Harry Potter and the People From Another Universe
by Check it bonsly
Summary: Ash, Iris and Cilan are sent to Hogwarts to learn magic and to stop the plot of a villain from their own universe. (No shipping, use of aura)
1. Book 1: 1

**A/n: Hey! This is a story I've been thinking about for a while. I don't think anyone's done it before, but if they have: oops.  
I'm planning on updating once a week, rather than the once a day then nothing for a month schedule for my other stories...**

* * *

Days before the fateful events at the Potter household, a man arrived in another universe. He had been planning the next events for years, and reminded himself of the fact as he approached the hiding place of the most feared man in the country.

He entered the house, residence to one Lord Voldemort, known more commonly as he who shall not be named, or you-know-who. The man walked through the halls, trying to find the right door. He had arranged previously to meet with the man, knowing that turning up announced would get him killed in a flash of green, just like the rest of his victims.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you now."

He didn't know what exactly he'd been expecting from his first visit with the Dark Lord, but it certainly hadn't been this. 'This' being a strange stick to the face and a death threat. A gun, some proper form of weaponry perhaps, but a stick? 'Then again,' he reminded himself, 'These are magicians I'm dealing with.'

Nonetheless, he'd come here for a reason, and there was (literally) no turning back now.

"I know someone."

The cryptic response, served with a smirk, did nothing to quell Voldemort's anger. Voldemort raised his wand further and pressed it directly against the man's heart, but he paid it no mind. The annoying confidence didn't leave him as he continued his short explanation.

"Someone who's immortal."

This got Voldemort's attention. He lowered his wand with a slight reluctance, eyeing the person in front of him with a mix of caution and curiosity,

"I'm listening."

* * *

One universe across, Pokémon Master in the making Ash Ketchum was enjoying his travels through the Unova region, journeying with his two companions Iris and Cilan. They were currently travelling around a few islands, named the Decalore Islands, between Kanto and Unova alongside a reporter from the Kalos region named Alexa. Alexa wasn't there at the moment, having left that morning to get some supplies.

Well, he _had_ been enjoying his travels. That was, until he'd had a run in with a couple of legendary pokemon. Nothing big, just the rulers of time and space. And Arceus.

Needless to say, it had been a strange day so far. And it was about to get stranger.

"What's going on?" Iris yelled, barely heard over the primal screeching of Dialga and Palkia, who seemed to be trying to communicate with the trio.

"No idea!" Ash yelled enthusiastically. He waved wildly at the pokemon, failing to catch their attention.

"Do you think... they've realised that we don't understand them yet?" Cilan was getting over the shock of seeing a legendary rather quickly now that it'd happened several times before.

"Probably not," Ash confirmed the suspicions of the other two, "But I don't see why Arceus isn't talking! We can actually understand him!"

Neither Iris nor Cilan questioned Ash's knowledge on the god pokemon, by now used to the way strange things followed him. They both looked around for any other people in the field, but apparently all humans and pokemon had disappeared as the legendaries arrived.

"Yes, they _should_ stop now, shouldn't they?" The voice of Arceus stopped the space-time dragons in their tracks, leaving them silently glaring at their superior. "That's better. Anyway, hello again Ash, Pikachu."

"Hey Arceus!" Ash shouted happily, accompanied by a "Pika chaaa!" from his partner pokemon. "What are you doing here?"

"I am here." The god pokemon spoke with a dramatic air, as was expected of the legendaries, "For you."

At this, Ash pointed at himself with confusion. By his sides, Iris, Cilan and Pikachu nodded in understanding. It was another 'go save the world, o chosen one' deal. "Why me?" He asked.

The question made Arceus shift uncomfortably. "Well, actually... you've become our go-to guy for dealing with evil plots, so by now we just figured you'd just go along with our plan..."

"Oh, okay!" Ash was unfazed by the confession that he was essentially a slave to the legendaries, "What do you need this time?"

"Yes, I'd better explain that now... I'm sending you all to Hogwarts!" Arceus regained his regal attitude.

"Hogwash?" Cilan asked, "What's that?"

"It's Hog_warts_! Anyway, it's a magic school somewhere in Scotland. I'm not sure of the details myself, really. I just know that you need to go there." Arceus explained, gaining only blank looks in return.

"A school? Why?" Iris was, unlike her friends, not too excited at the prospect of getting an education.

"A school teaching you how to use _magic_," Arceus reminded them, "It'll be fun! Besides, I'm not sure you can even _do _magic... Mew never tells me these things..."

"We'll do it!" Ash yelled, not one for forethought or hesitation.

Cilan, being as he was, more inclined towards actually stopping to think things through every once in a while, was more reluctant to accept. "And how long exactly will we_ be_ at this 'Hogwash'?"

"Not long, not long..." Arceus reassured, "Only about seven years or so..."

"_Seven years_?!" Iris exploded, startling everyone. "I can't go to school for seven years! Besides, won't people miss us? What about participating in the leagues and stuff?" She directed the last question more towards Ash than Arceus.

This got Ash thinking. "Yeah, I don't wanna miss that! Sorry, looks like we can't go!"

"No!" Arceus yelled, "No. It's okay! Mew said something about this. 'Return them to where they were when they left off, they won't miss anything.' Yeah, that was it!"

"Hmm." Cilan was still unconvinced. "Won't that make us all seven years older? That's gonna be suspicious no matter how you look at it!"

This one Arceus had an immediate response to. "Oh, please," He scoffed, "I'm _god_. I can just de-age you when you get back. It'll be fine!"

Cilan gave a frown, still sceptical. He was unable to voice his concerns however, as Ash made another enthusiastic agreement and Arceus took it as the final decision.

"Right," The previously mentioned god spoke with finality, "I'll be on my way now, as will you. See you in seven years! Or, I suppose, a few minutes..."

Ash and Pikachu waved him off merrily as Arceus teleported away, leaving no more room for argument from Iris and Cilan, who stood gaping beside Ash.

"But..." Iris said weakly, as Palkia and Dialga readied some kind of attack. She never got to finish her complaint, as the attacks finished charging and the trio were zapped away, pokemon in tow.

Over in the Hall of Origin, Arceus watched the humans on their journey across universes. "Come to think of it," He realised aloud, "I never did tell them that Hogwarts was in another universe, did I? Ah well, I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually..."

* * *

**So, how was it? Reviews and pointing out errors would be appreciated!**


	2. Book 1: 2

**A/n: I'm here, as scheduled, a week later. The next update will also be in a week, despite the exams (the joy) that invade my writing time. This chapter is a lot longer than the other; I hope you like it. (Feel free to comment with chapter length preferences)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Oof!"

The trio arrived in their new location: two feet above the entrance to Hogwarts. They didn't stay there for long, as gravity kicked in and left them sprawling on the floor. They all sat up, looking at the place that would become their new home for the next seven years.

"Well, here we are. Hogwash, apparently." Cilan announced as he stood up, brushing his trousers down as he did. 'After all,' he thought as he straightened his bow tie, 'A pokemon connoisseur always has to look his best.'

"That's nice. Good of Ash to get us all stuck in this situation!" His purple haired friend spoke sarcastically, "Where'd he say Hogwash is, anyway?"

"Scotland, if I heard correctly. You ever heard of it?" When Iris signalled a no via the use of a head shake, Cilan continued in a way only a true connoisseur could. "The element of mystery brings a new taste to the situation, wouldn't you agree?"

It was then that Ash pushed himself off the floor with a slight grunt. "You know no one understands your connoisseur speech Cilan." He moaned, looking up to the impressive doors looming before them. "Now, how do we get in?"

The question was answered non-verbally by the castle itself, when the door opened seemingly of its own accord. Taking this as a cue to enter, Ash and co. walked into the castle.

They wandered the halls unhindered for quite some time, appreciating and conversing with the moving paintings, staring in awe at (and in Iris's case, climbing all over) the staircases as they shifted from one place to another. Eventually, though, the fun had to come to an end. And it did, in a big way.

"What, exactly, are you doing here?" The sneering voice of one Severus Snape reverberated in the corridor, stopping the trio in their tracks. Ash spun round to face the new arrival, and Pikachu sparked in warning from his place on his friend's shoulder.

Ash was less confrontational than his pokemon about the matter, and instead of taking a threatening approach, he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, you see," He started sheepishly, "We kinda got teleported here, then the doors opened, so we thought we'd explore..?"

It was clear from the professor's expression that he was in no way amused by Ash's words.

"I don't know how you got here..." Snape began, glaring down at the three unwitting intruders, "But I'm going to have to take you to Dumbledore now."

And take them to Dumbledore he did. It was a deceptively difficult task, especially for how willing to comply the three children were. For starters, there was the strange yellow creature that glared unnervingly at him, seeming to possess some sort of magical ability if the sparks it emitted were anything to go by. Snape made a mental note to ask Hagrid about the rat later - he was obsessed with the strangest of creatures - but ignored it for the most part.

The boy wearing a cap quickly became distraction number two, as he asked a constant flow of irritating questions, and whenever he wasn't doing that he was conversing with the previously mentioned yellow rodent. Although a mix of 'pika's and 'chuu's were all that left the creature's mouth, the boy somehow managed to understand every word.

Lastly, there was the purple haired girl. She was prone to wandering off, and even more prone to trying to climb the most random of surfaces. If he hadn't been trying to get them to the headmaster and more importantly get them out of his sight at the quickest rate possible, a lecture in manners and respect for her surroundings would've been in order. As it was, Snape contained his anger in irritable mumblings and mental threats to the two pests.

The green haired boy was tolerable at least. All he did was look around in equal parts awe and curiosity, which, while annoying, was easily ignored. 'Thank Merlin for small mercies' Snape thought, approaching the gargoyle statue guarding Dumbledore's office.

"Lemon drops." He said, gaining a few curious looks from the trio behind him. The looks ceased as the staircase appeared, quickly replaced by the customary awe and appreciation.

"Right, up you go." He prompted.

This jolted the children into action, and they marched in unison up the spiralling stairs. When they reached the door, the hat boy opened it and entered the room without knocking.

"Hi!" Ash shouted cheerily as he walked in. This caused Dumbledore to look up from his place at the desk, setting a calculating gaze upon the four new visitors. The gaze moved over to Snape next, clearly asking for an explanation.

"I found them wandering the halls," Snape provided, "They said the doors opened for them."

Dumbledore nodded at this explanation, as if it provided all the answers that Snape had been searching for since he found the children. "I see," He said wisely, "Well then. I think it's high time we introduced ourselves to our guests."

Snape took this as a cue to say his name, and reacted accordingly. He introduced Dumbledore too, being as the man had failed to do so himself.

"I'm Ash Ketchum! And this is my partner Pikachu!" At the mention of his name, the electric rat let out a squeak of agreement and rubbed it's face against Ash's.

"I'm Iris! And this is Axew!" At this, a small green creature popped from the girl's bushy hair, much to the surprise of the two wizards, though they did their best to conceal the shock.

"I'm Cilan, nice to meet you!" The oldest of the three introduced himself with a slight bow.

Pleasantries out of the way, the adults got down to business.

"So," Dumbledore retained a façade of calmness, "Care to explain how you ended up outside Hogwarts?"

"You see, it's like this: Arceus said we needed to help some people; he said we were gonna learn magic; he teleported us, then boom! Here we are!" At Ash's enthusiastic yet none too revealing response, Dumbledore nodded sagely. 'He couldn't have understood that claptrap, could he?' Snape thought. 'And who the hell is this 'Arceus' who can... teleport people?'

"I see. So you're the ones the letter was talking about."

The new development intrigued Snape, who had heard nothing of any letters. 'So, Dumbledore _did_ already know about these three.'

"Letter?" It seemed that the newcomers had not been made aware of this development either, based on the question and all round blank looks.

"Yes," Dumbledore elaborated, "It detailed your situation. You are all from another universe full of magical creatures known as pokemon, here to learn about magic, are you not?"

"Another universe..." Cilan seemed quite startled by the idea. "Well, this certainly gives a surprising, though not unwelcome, taste... I myself was not informed of any universe-hopping..." A shared look confirmed that neither Iris nor Ash knew about this beforehand either.

"Ah. It seems you have been inadequately informed, then. Perhaps a more in-depth explanation is in order?" Dumbledore's suggestion received pleading nods, so he continued. "Well, apparently you three here are all in possession of magical ability. It would be interesting to know if others from your universe have magical abilities or if it's just you, but this is somewhat of a digression. You will be attending our fine school for the next seven years. I've been told something about helping to stop a plot hatched by some crooks from your universe, but that seems to be something that will come to play in later years. You'll be staying at the castle with the other students for the duration of your time in education, the exact location of your dormitories depending on which house you are sorted in. A place to stay in the meantime, I am sure, will become available soon. I've already contacted someone on this matter, in fact, and expect their reply forthwith. For now, you may resume your castle exploration."

The three nodded and made to leave, but were blocked by Snape, who was not yet finished questioning about the situation. "What will happen to the... pokemon?" He said, disdain dripping from the last word. Only Pikachu seemed to pick up on the human's distaste for his kind, growling slightly in retaliation.

"I thought that they could stay at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore had no such reservations towards the new creatures, speaking with what sounded to be genuine enthusiasm. It was a stark contrast to his business-like manner when talking before. "I'm sure Hagrid can care for them, or the children themselves. They could feature as a learning topic in Care of Magical Creatures too. Professor Kettleburn will find them as fascinating as Rubeus will, certainly."

Curiosity satisfied, Snape swept his cloak behind him with a swish as he walked around the soon to be students, allowing them access to the exit, which they quickly took advantage of. The door slammed shut behind them, and both occupants of the room waited in silence until the childish giggling was no longer audible.

"I assume that there was something you weren't telling the kids?" Snape asked. He got the distinct impression that Dumbledore was hiding something rather big again.

"Yes." His suspicions were confirmed, "They're here for their protection, too."

Back in the halls of Hogwarts, our heroes were having a brilliant time. There had been a few encounters with some rather rude paintings, but the majority seemed quite receptive of their summer holiday guests. They were in the middle of a chat with an armoured man who seemed quite lively when a face popped through the wall. Literally.

"A ghost!" Iris squealed, jumping up and seeming quite prepared to leg it straight back to Unova.

"Yes, a ghost indeed. Sir Nicholas at your service, young lady." The ghost stuck a hand out to shake, which Ash tried to grab.

"Hi! How're you doing?" Ash asked happily, nonplussed by the fact that his conversational partner was not alive, and had no physical form.

"Quite well, to say I'm dead." Nearly Headless Nick responded good naturedly. He smiled at the child in front of him. "Well, I must be on my way now. Quite busy, I'm afraid. 'Till next time! And hopefully, next time will be me watching you all get sorted into the great house Gryffindor!" With that, he floated away.

"What's a griffin, and why does it have a door?" Iris wondered as the ghost left their sight.

The adventures around the castle ended a few hours later, when Snape came to retrieve the by now quite exhausted (and in Ash's case, hungry) children and pokemon. He took them back to Dumbledore, still in his office.

This time however, the old wizard was stood next to his desk, eyeing an old boot that lay on it.

"Hi Dumbledore!" The three chorused, joined by a "Pika!" and "Axew, ax!" from the two pokemon.

"Hello again," Dumbledore greeted, turning away from the boot. "Now, I imagine that you must be getting tired by now,"

"And hungry, too!" Ash interrupted, eliciting a laugh from the headmaster and a shush from Iris.

"Yes, that too. I think it's high time we got you three to the pace you'll be staying at."

All five shared a happy glance at the prospect.

"And you'll be getting there by portkey."

"Port...key?" Cilan echoed, following the headmaster's gaze to the boot, "You mean that?"

"Yes, this. Quite the observant one, aren't you? Well, a portkey is an everyday object charmed to take you to your intended destination. All you need to do is grab onto it, and you're set!"

Having been given the instruction, five hands grabbed the boot unquestioningly.

"What now?" The connoisseur asked.

"You wait. Shouldn't be too long now."

And indeed it wasn't. Dumbledore had barely finished his sentence when the children found themselves spinning suddenly, the world having been yanked from underneath them. The only things not reduced to a spinning blur were the boot, and the startled expressions on each other's faces. A few seconds later, it was over. Five pairs of feet made an unexpected landing on the grass, three of the owners of said feet toppling over in an undignified manner, landing hands down on the field.

When the world stopped spinning and the feeling of dizziness left them, an opportunity to look around was provided. They had landed in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by nothing but a few grassy fields. That, and the towering house before them. Despite the tall nature of the building, it lacked intimidation. In fact, the haphazard way in which each floor had been precariously balanced, making the structure look very unsteady, created a welcoming atmosphere.

Out of the house came a woman, bright red hair and large smile being her most noticeable features, even from a distance.

As she neared her new guests, a few other red heads popped round the door frame, staring curiously at the new people.

"Hello dears," The woman spoke kindly, reminding Ash of his mother, "Welcome to the Burrow."

After the initial welcome, humans and pokemon alike had followed Mrs Weasley, for that was who she was, into the Burrow. There, they had been further greeted by stares from the ginger children, whose gaze was directed especially towards the pokemon.

"Hi!" Ash was the first to break the silence, not yet having grasped that the situation was quite an awkward one. "I'm Ash, and this is my buddy Pikachu!"

Pikachu let out a "chaa" of greeting, inwardly sighing at his master, who had again created an awkward atmosphere.

"H-hi... I'm Iris, and this is Axew." The small dragon type had also failed to read the mood, waving a cheery hello accompanied by an "Axew, ax!"

"Cilan," The connoisseur gave a sweeping bow, "It's a pleasure."

"And these are my kids," Mrs Weasley said, gesturing to them all, "Ron, Fred, George and Percy are the boys, and... where's Ginny? I told her the children would be arriving soon..." Mumbling to herself about her missing daughter, Mrs Weasley disappeared up the stairs.

This left the children staring at each other again.

"So..." Ron started, "You're really from another universe?"

Despite the awkwardness at first, the boys and Iris were chatting friendlily by the time Ginny entered.

"Hi!" Ash noticed her appearance first, bouncing over to her, "How're you doing? I'm Ash!"

"Ginny." The only female sibling gave her name, slightly overwhelmed by Ash's enthusiasm.

"Stop being such a little kid!" Iris scolded Ash, looking apologetically at Ginny. "Just ignore him, he's stupid."

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm really clever!" Ash shouted indignantly.

"Says the _little kid_ who sent a fire type out against a water type last week!" Iris countered, smirking slightly.

Meanwhile, the siblings had started watching the argument as it progressed with interest. Fred and George especially seemed to want to know who'd win.

"Ha! I _won_ that battle with pure skill! Type advantage isn't everything, you know!" Knowing that he'd won the argument, Ash stuck his tongue out in an immature gesture that caused Iris to scowl in irritation.

She gazed angrily at Ash for a moment, then returned to her conversation with the only other girl in the room.

Confrontation with Iris over, Ash returned to his conversation with the other boys.

"So." It was Fred and George who were talking when he came into earshot, both looking directly at him as they took turns saying each part of the sentence.

"We heard you say something about-"

"Different types, and were wondering if-"

"You could demonstrate that for us?"

Ash, not one to miss a chance to let his pokemon out, agreed. "Is there anywhere with a lot of space?" He asked, thinking back to the fields they'd arrived in.

The twins nodded, leading everyone out to the garden. They looked to Ash. who confirmed that the space was adequate.

"Come on out, guys!" Ash shouted, flinging all five of his pokeballs out into the middle of the garden. As he did so, Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and ran to greet his friends.

The young wizards all gasped in awe as the pokemon emerged from their rest in a blue flash. Charizard looked down at the congregated children and let out a loud roar, making those not used to him jump slightly.

Ash let out a slight laugh at the fire type's antics, sighing when he was charred by a flamethrower of greeting. "It's good to see you too, Charizard." He said weakly, dropping to the floor.

All of the other pokemon were introduced while Ash recovered from the fire attack, including those belonging to Iris and Cilan.

"Where do you get them?" Ron asked curiously, reaching out to touch Snivy but being batted away by a soft vine whip.

"All over the place!" Iris said, "I got Axew in the Village of Dragons, and I found Emolga, and Excadrill, and-"

"That's cool!" Fred cut her off as he pointed at Oshawott, who was shooting a water gun in Ash's face.

"What do you do with them?" George continued, watching as Ash tackled his pokemon to the ground playfully. Snivy sighed at his antics and used her vines to separate the two.

"We battle!" Ash called out from where he was being set down by the grass type. "And play, and work, and use them to catch other pokemon!"

"So you just catch them in those balls and they have to obey you?" Ron seemed quite excited by the idea of potential slavery.

"No, no!" Cilan corrected hurriedly, alarmed that they'd given off such an impression of the relationship between pokemon and trainer, "First you battle them, then you catch them. And after that, they don't have to do what you say at all! In fact, pokemon can be quite disobedient sometimes!"

"Yeah!" Ash piped in, "Just like Charizard and Pikachu at first! But I soon gained their respect!"

Curiosity peaked, Ron asked Ash for details of his respect-gaining, and soon found himself enraptured in the tales of Ash's many near death experiences. Ash was just about to divulge into an account of how he'd had to travel to the Tree of Beginning to rescue Pikachu from Mew when Mrs Weasley called them in to eat, stopping Ash's tirade as the thought of food made him dash right back to the kitchen, an equally hungry Ron in tow.

Over dinner, they discussed the arrangements for the next few days. Ron was to be a new student at Hogwarts too, so he would be going with them to a place they kept referring to as 'Diagonally', confusing the pokemon trainers greatly. School was due to start in but a few days, so the rest of the holidays would be spent playing at the Burrow and teaching the Weasley children about pokemon, a topic they were all very interested in. After that, school would start and the whole family would be going to King's Cross Station, something Cilan, being a train connoisseur, was very much looking forwards to.

Then, it would be off to Hogwarts (not Hogwash, as it transpired) with them, for a year of magical learning and fun.

After dinner, the trainers called back their pokemon and went off to discover their sleeping arrangements. Iris would be sharing a room with Ginny, while Ash went to Ron's room and Cilan shared with Fred and George. The trio were slightly off put at the idea of being separated like that, but went along with it anyway, not wanting to inconvenience those kind enough to take them in.

As Ash and Ron prepared to sleep, the pokemon trainer continued with his tale of adventure, describing the way that Lucario had sacrificed himself to save Mew, and everyone in the Tree of Beginning. Ron was more interested in the concept of aura, though.

"It's like magic!" Ron said when it was described to him. "But without a wand... blimey, that's supposed to be super advanced stuff..."

With those words, both boys fell asleep.

The next day, everyone had got up and gone down for breakfast, ready for the early start so that they could get all the shopping over and done with.

Well, almost everyone.

"Come on!" Ron, not exactly the easiest to wake himself, shook Ash with increasing desperation. "If you don't wake up soon, we'll both miss breakfast!"

Even the mention of food was not enough to rouse the sleeping ten year old from his slumber, so Pikachu decided to take action. Ron watched on with curiosity as the pokemon charged up electricity, releasing it all in the form of a thunderbolt.

Ash yelled in surprise at the shocking wake up call, jolted awake and out of bed.

"Thanks, Pikachu..." He groaned from his place on the floor, now very much awake.

Iris and Cilan exchanged a knowing glance when Ash eventually made his way down the stairs, mouth open in a wide yawn and occasionally sparking.

"Hey guys," He yawned again, sitting down and stuffing his face with food. Mrs Weasley continued to offer things to the three guests, muttering as she did about how 'the poor dears look so underfed'.

Soon, everyone was finished eating, and it was time to leave. This of course led onto the next problem: how were they going to get there?

"Floo powder!" Ron explained to the trainers, "That's what this stuff is. You just throw it down in the fireplace and say where you want to go. Simple, really."

Cilan looked at the powder sceptically. "If you say so..." He said reluctantly.

Ash, meanwhile, was far less concerned with the method of travel. "Look Pikachu, I want you to come too, but Mrs Weasley says that you can't." He had a slight problem; Pikachu couldn't come with him. 'I don't see why though,' he complained internally, 'If anyone thinks he's weird then they can just go away.'

Pikachu gave up, still visibly unhappy about the situation, but willing to comply for Ash's sake. He jumped off his trainer's shoulder and onto the kitchen table, watching mournfully as Ash grabbed a handful of the powder and got into the fireplace, having volunteered to go first.

"Diagon Alley!" He spoke clearly, forcing the powder downwards with vigour. In a flash of brightly coloured flame, the black haired boy disappeared. His vacant spot was soon taken by Iris, who was excited to give it a try herself having seen it in action.

With another shout of 'Diagon Alley' she was gone, off to wherever Ash had ended up. Ron went next to show them where they should be heading, then the rest of the Weasleys, and Cilan, followed.

Over in Diagon Alley, the shopping was well underway. The Hogwarts letter had come for Ron some time ago, and Dumbledore had instructed Molly to just buy what was on his letter for all three first years, too.

A trip to Gringotts had been the first thing on the list, where money had been taken from Hogwarts' own vault to pay for the trio's supplies. They had all been thrilled by the roller coaster transportation, and even more excited to catch their first glimpse at the magical creatures running the bank.

The new currency had been an interesting sight, sparking a discussion into the money they used as trainers and what they spent it on (chiefly pokemon food, potions and medicine, as most things for trainers were provided for free at the pokemon centres).

Next, school books and equipment had been purchased, and Mrs Weasley had sent the children off on their own to get their wands while she finished buying everything else. They were given instructions to meet back in an hour to get their robes fitted before they wandered off, left to their own devices.

"Come on, this way!" Ron guided the other three through the crowded street, narrowly avoiding other shoppers as he went. He led them to the outside of a shop named 'Ollivander's', which boasted a long history of wand making on it's sign.

The four children entered the shop, looking around at the multitude of wands on display.

The shop keeper came to greet them, unnerving them all with his strange personality. He took measurements from all of them, requesting for information about their 'wand hand', which was apparently the hand you wrote with. With all the information he needed in place, Ollivander set about finding a wand for each of them, constantly repeating the phrase 'the wand chooses the wizard' as he worked.

Ron already had a wand, previously belonging to his brother Charlie, made of ash wood, with a core of unicorn hair. It took a while to find a suitable match for Iris, but eventually maple wood, with a dragon heartstring core seemed to suit her.

After a few mishaps with destroying objects, a wand made with wood from an ash tree (Ash didn't much appreciate the pun), with phoenix hair in the middle chose Ash, and Cilan managed to find his perfect wand (ebony wood and a core of unicorn hair) in just three tries.

They all paid for their wands and left the shop, making their way over to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to get their robes fitted, as per the request of Ron's mother.

After fitting and buying three sets of robes (Ron already having some hand me downs available) it was time to go home.

"Pikachu, here I come!" Ash laughed as he got back into the fireplace, this time requesting to be transported to the Burrow. In another flash of fire, he was gone from the alley, seconds later appearing in the kitchen of his temporary home, right in front of a still diligently waiting Pikachu.

"Pikapi!" The rodent squeaked happily when Ash came over and picked him up, hugging his friend tightly enough to make Pikachu start to try and worm out of the death-grip he'd found himself in.

Ash was reunited with his other friends soon after, and the children went off to play with the pokemon in the garden while tea was prepared.

* * *

**And thus the trio arrives at, leaves, and gets the equipment they need to re-enter Hogwarts.**


	3. Book 1: 3

**A/n: Hallelujah! Halfway through the exams, there's a nice bank holiday to write in! So, I have another chapter ready for you.  
More good news: I'm going to be posting chapter four on Thursday this week (last exam's then, yeah!) so there'll be a smaller wait between this one and the next.**

**In the meantime, enjoy!**

* * *

A few days later, five Weasley children, three pokemon trainers and two parents stood facing the wall to platform nine and three-quarters, some more sceptical about the wall letting them walk through than others. Mrs Weasley complained loudly about the amount of muggles (a word which apparently meant non-magical folk) in the area, catching the attention of one Harry Potter.

The boy who lived approached the family, asking how to get on the platform. Mrs Weasley kindly provided him with the same advice she had to Ash, Iris and Cilan, then let him watch as her children ran through. After the last ginger child had disappeared, Harry himself took a run at it, closely followed by the three trainers.

Getting through the wall unhindered, the four soon to be students got an impressive view of their transportation. The sight of a train kicked Cilan into connoisseur mode, much to Iris's chagrin. As he danced about, appreciating the vehicle from different angles, Iris and Ash boarded the train, following Ron in his quest to find a spare cabin. What they managed to find instead was Harry, and the four children shuffled into the compartment awkwardly (Cilan had by this point recovered from his train obsessing) when Harry gave them permission.

Ron seemed to recognise Harry from somewhere, questioning him in awe about some scar, which Harry showed him with a grin. Those who were as yet unaware of the boy's fame in this world sat staring at the exchange, not quite understanding it.

"Oh, yeah! You guys don't know!" Ron realised that the other people in the room were undereducated on this universe, so set about teaching them. "This is Harry Potter. This bad guy, You Know Who, tried to kill him when he was a baby. But Harry didn't die, so You Know Who was defeated!"

The confused "but I _don't_ know who" from Iris went unheard over Ash's introductions. He introduced all three humans, then grabbed his backpack and started to unzip it.

"And this," He said as he released the pokemon inside, "Is my partner, Pikachu!"

"Woah, what's that?" Harry asked, intrigued by the new magical creature.

This sparked a long discussion into the world of pokemon, and how Ash and co. had come to be in another universe. It continued for some time, only being broken up by a food break when Harry bought the entire contents of the trolley and restarting after the treats had been consumed, most having been eaten by Ash.

The next distraction came in the form of Hermione Granger, searching for a toad and warning them to put their robes on. Despite Ron grumbling about the girl being a 'bloody know it all', everyone took her advice and were soon robed and ready to arrive.

Ash tugged uncomfortably at the sleeve of his new uniform, none too pleased that he'd had to say goodbye to his hat. 'At least I'm allowed Pikachu out this time,' He consoled himself miserably.

The train came to a stop just as everyone was finished putting their normal clothing away, and they all disembarked. All of the trunks were left on the train, apparently going to be taken to their rooms in the castle later.

"So," Harry restarted the conversation when he, Ron, Ash and another girl none of them knew had boarded the boat. "What do you think Hogwarts is like?"

"It's a huge castle!" Ash gushed, "With moving staircases, and loads of paintings like the Dumbledore card you got before! And Dumbledore's really smart, and his office is super cool!"

Harry laughed. "I forgot that you'd been here before." He admitted, looking up as Hogwarts came into view from above. "Wow..." His words were echoed by everyone else. The castle was certainly a sight to behold, visible in the moonlight and towering imposingly above them all.

They weren't on the boats for much longer, and soon all the first years found their feet planted firmly on dry ground again. They were led by the half giant up the stairs, where they met Professor McGonagall. She gave a short speech about life at Hogwarts, then took them through the doors and into the great hall. It was time for the sorting ceremony to begin.

* * *

"Abbot, Hannah." McGonagall called another person from the list.

They came up to the talking hat and sat down. The hat was placed on their head and made a few expressions of deep thought before eventually yelling "HUFFLEPUFF!", signalling for the new member of said house to go and join their new classmates.

Ash wasn't paying proper attention to her anymore. It had been exciting at first, when the hat had sprouted some poem and started evaluating the students, but talking inanimate objects quickly lost their appeal. In fact, Ash was so distracted by the weather displayed on the ceiling that he almost missed his own name being called out.

"Ketchum, Ash." At the sound of his name Ash jolted back into action, hurriedly making his way over to the stool and sitting on it.

The hat was lowered onto his head, and suddenly became more interesting. 'It's psychic!' Ash realised, feeling it dig around in his head. Having been subjected to many an attack such as this in the past, Ash recognised it easily.

'Yes, I am.' The hat piped up, 'And I can see how you know that. Well, looking at your memories, I can tell that you're brave,'

'Not that brave!' Ash denied mentally, 'I only did what anyone else would!'

'Somehow,' The hat said, 'I doubt anyone else would be willing to jump off a cliff to save their friend. Anyway, as I was about to say before you interrupted me... brave, perfect for...'

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat announced, leaving Ash to take the hat off and hand it back to the professor. Judging from the loud cheering coming from the gold and red table, Ash guessed that he should sit there. As he motioned for Pikachu to get from the floor to his shoulder, he gained a few odd looks. Ignoring them, Ash sat next to Hermione, who had earlier been sorted into the same house.

Harry was also sorted into Gryffindor, after a long and tense pause from the hat. He seemed quite relieved as he made his way over to Ash at the table. Ron was certainly relieved to be put in the same house as the rest of his family, bounding up to the table as soon as the sorting hat called the house out.

The next person of interest to be sorted was Iris. She walked up to the hat, putting it on her head. It stayed there for quite some time, mumbling occasionally and at one point seeming quite shocked. Eventually it came to a decision, yelling "GRYFFINDOR!" to the hall.

As Iris returned the hat, bouncing over to her house table, she glanced over at Ash. "The hat thought Axew's thoughts were mine!" She explained the hat's indecision, sitting next to Harry. Axew popped out of her hair at the mention of his name, much to the surprise of Neville Longbottom, who nearly fell off his seat at the sight. "Nearly sorted me into Hufflepuff!"

Last up was Cilan, who managed to get himself sorted into Hufflepuff. He looked apologetically at Ash and Iris, who both deflated when they realised that their green haired friend wouldn't be joining them in the Gryffindor dormitory.

After that, Dumbledore rose and gave a short speech that made little to no sense depending on how well you were listening, then the feast began.

Suddenly, the hall was filled with all kinds of foods, creating a heavenly smell. For a few seconds all those unaware of the food transportation methods stared in pure amazement, then they dug into the food with vigour. It was mostly a time of introductions, with Iris speaking on behalf of Ash when his mouth was too full to speak coherently.

They were re-introduced to Nearly Headless Nick, and got a visual explanation of the nickname courtesy of Hermione's curiosity. It elicited a few gasps of horror, but Ash just seemed impressed by the head removing ability his spectral friend had. The other Hogwarts ghosts had been pointed out from afar, but they were too busy meeting their own new students to come over to the Gryffindor table.

At one point, Ash tried to get up and talk to Cilan, who despite having been able to talk to many others on his own table, was probably missing his other friends by now. This was shot down by Percy Weasley, who grabbed his robes as he passed him.

"Where are you going?" The prefect asked, "You can't go to the tower yet."

"The Hufflepuff table!" Ash said, frowning as Percy shook his head at the answer.

"You can't. No one goes to the other house tables. It might not be an official rule, but no one does it."

Ash considered continuing regardless, but at the serious expression on the fifth year's face he gave up and returned to his seat next to Hermione. "Lousy rules. No rule's gonna keep me from my friends." He muttered, glaring at Percy.

After that there were no more surprising events, and when everyone was ready to leave Percy led the newcomers to their new rooms in the Gryffindor tower.

Everyone settled down pretty quickly, not really surprised anymore when their luggage appeared by their beds. They all drifted off to sleep with the same speed, exhausted from the sorting and subsequent feast.

* * *

The next day started with Ash oversleeping as usual. Ron, by now used to such occurrences, sicced Pikachu on him.

"It's the only way to wake him up," The ginger haired child explained matter-of-factly, glad to be the one in the know on a subject for once.

At these words, all heads turned to watch in morbid curiosity as Ash was thunderbolted awake by his partner pokemon. He yelped in pain, jumping off the bed and landing with a thud on the floor. This gained a few laughs from the congregated boys, and a moan from Ash.

"I thought I said NOT to do that when Ron says, Pik..." Ash's complaint was met by an uncaring 'Pikachuu.' from his friend, who glanced at his nails uncaringly. "Fine," Ash sulked, "I'll just have to hold back on ketchup allowances today..." He spoke this time with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Immediately, the starter was on his knees, begging his trainer to take mercy in a flurry of repetitions of his name. Ash laughed at the display, ruffling the panicked mouse's head playfully.

"Maybe you'll think twice about shocking me next time, 'eh?" Ash said, letting Pikachu take his place on his shoulder before wandering off to get ready for the day.

"Wow, those two sure get on well..." Harry said as the two left, amazed by the companionship, and that everyone else seemed to just... accept the strange behaviour. This was certainly a far cry from the zero tolerance Dursley household, to be sure.

"Yeah, definitely." Neville agreed, still sat on his bed in his pyjamas. "Hey, Ron," The boy caught his new friend's attention, "What exactly IS that thing Ash has, anyway?"

"It's called a pokemon!" Ron was again smugly flaunting his superior knowledge. "You see, Ash comes from a whole different universe, and they have these things called pokemon over there!" The new information caused even more excitement, the thought of traversing universes enough to catch everyone's attention again. "Apparently there's loads of different ones, but I've only seen a few. Iris and Cilan have them too!"

Neville nodded in understanding, thinking back to the thing Iris had called an 'Axew' last night. 'So, I've seen different types of pokemon already!' He realised, intrigued at the thought of discovering more of the creatures. 'I'll have to ask Ash about it later.'

"You forgot the most important thing!" Ash came back into the room, "You can catch pokemon, and train them. Pokemon can be your best friends, and me and my pokemon always help each other out!"

To demonstrate, Ash produced a pokeball from his belt. He tossed it into the middle of the room, and a blue otter was released with a cry of "Osha, wott wott!"

Ron nodded as everyone's attention was diverted to the new addition to the room. Oshawott was temporarily surprised by the amount of attention he was gaining, but soon got used to it and started posing confidently for his admirers. Pikachu sighed at the younger pokemon's antics, watching as it pushed it's chest out far enough to unbalance it in a move resembling Dawn's Piplup. "Yeah, from what I've heard, Ash's pokemon are willing to die for him!"

The boys didn't pay much attention to the outburst, guessing incorrectly that Ron was just using a figure of speech.

"Of course!" Ash's words got them all thinking, imagining the loyalty and bonds that must exist between pokemon and trainer. "And I'd die for them too!"

"I know you would, mate." Ron laughed, "Jumping off a cliff to save Pikachu? I think that counts as 'willing to die' for him!"

After that casual revelation into the depths of Ash's bravery, Ash returned Oshawott and left for the common room to meet up with Iris.

Back with the boys, a stunned silence had spread across he group.

"Die for his pokemon?" Harry voiced what the rest of them were thinking, "Well, I can see how he got into Gryffindor."

* * *

"Such a kid, always taking ages to get up." Iris criticized as Ash came down the stairs. She had good reason to complain, having been waiting for half an hour beside the portrait by now. "Come on! I told you before, didn't I?"

"Only like a hundred times," Ash then repeated the sentence once more for good measure: "'The sooner we get down there, the sooner we can see Cilan.' What makes you think he's even gonna be down there?"

Iris scoffed, "Duh, he always wakes up really early, doesn't he? Now let's get going!" Iris left the room, bouncing through the corridors on the way down to breakfast.

As usual, Iris had predicted correctly.

"Shut up." Ash grumbled as Iris looked smugly over at him, making a beeline for the Hufflepuff table. He plonked himself down on it, ignoring the way the other student's murmurs rose as he did so.

"Ah, I was wondering when you two would show up." Cilan offered as way of greeting. "Your appearance brings an energetic spice to the morning, for sure!"

"Yeah!" Ash agreed readily, not at all knowing what the connoisseur's speech was supposed to mean. "So, do you like Hufflepuff?"

"Yes, actually." Cilan said calmly, "The people there are nice. It's like a family really, it works much like our relationship."

Iris nodded. She looked over to the door, where her new friends had just arrived. They sat next to Percy at the Gryffindor table, and in looking over at them she noticed the prefect glaring at her. She returned the gesture in a fit of childishness, sticking her tongue out for good measure.

Her and Cilan continued to engage in conversation while Ash and Pikachu ate, the latter enjoying the large servings of ketchup available with a "Chaa" of contentment.

They hadn't been eating for long when one of the teachers came up to Cilan, holding out a timetable for him to take. At the confused looks from his friends, he explained. "This is the head of Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout. Your heads of house are supposed to give you your timetables."

Professor Sprout looked at the children who most certainly were _not_ part of her house, recognising them as two Gryffindor students. 'Miracles never cease,' She thought, unable to recall the last time a lion had befriended a badger so quickly, to the point of sitting on another house's table on the first day. "I'll have to inform Minerva," She muttered, wandering off and abandoning her own timetable distributing task.

About ten minutes later, Professor McGonagall came over to give Ash and Iris their own timetables. They looked at it, slightly disappointed that their first class would be shared with the Slytherins, not Cilan and the Hufflepuffs.

"Well, I'll see you later!" Cilan bade his farewells, joining some of his newer Hufflepuff friends as they took off to their first lesson with the Ravenclaws. "Good luck!"

Iris and Ash re-joined the other Gryffindor students after Cilan's departure, just in time to be informed that they too would be making their way to their first class.

"Potions! With the Slytherins!" Ron wasn't as enthusiastic about the class as others, it seemed. "We're all doomed! Everyone knows Snape _hates_ Gryffindors, and he _loves_ Slytherins! Nobody do anything to get on his nerves, god..."

Ash didn't quite understand the reservations. "I'm sure he doesn't hate _all_ Gryffindors!" He tried to redeem the views of the others regarding the professor. "When I met him he seemed nice enough..."

"Yeah, but he didn't know you were a Gryffindor then, did he?" Ron countered, making a reasonable argument. Ash shrugged, still unwilling to judge someone before he'd properly met them.

Harry watched as the argument unfolded, thinking back to his encounter with the man last night. "He might not hate Gryffindors, Ash, but I have to say... that guy _is_ pretty creepy."

Ron beamed with pride, seeing this as a win for himself. "See, told you Snape's bad news."

* * *

Snape was, as it transpired, not particularly good news after all. After unnecessarily drilling Harry on information he didn't even know he had to know, he had punished the one who _did_ know the answer, and the lesson was undoubtedly going to worsen from then on out.

Ash had managed to contain himself while the events took place, but was still stewing in anger. Snape had set them off doing a potion, but Ash hadn't been paying enough attention to know what that potion was. He was still sat staring at the desk when Snape approached him ten minutes later.

"What have you achieved in the time you've been examining what I'm sure must be a very interesting desk, Ketchum?" The words snapped Ash back into attention for long enough for him to jolt and turn to face his teacher. Doing so managed to knock Pikachu off his perch; the mouse's attention had also been slipping, and he had almost drifted into a peaceful sleep when Ash moved.

"And what," Snape drawled, voice dripping with contempt and disdain, "Is your... rodent doing here?"

Said rodent sparked dangerously, remembering Snape as the rude person from a few days ago. Snape remembered Pikachu too, and was none too pleased to have the small creature in his classroom, if only because it was so _annoying_.

"Huh? Pikachu goes everywhere with me!" Ash said, moving his arms subconsciously to protect his friend from whatever wrath he had unwittingly incurred from the professor.

"Get it out." Snape paused mid-sentence to glare down his nose at the now terrified creature, greasy bangs dangling in his face as he did so, "Of my classroom."

Ash shook his head urgently, now holding Pikachu behind him. "I can't, he... we... why? He wasn't doing any harm!" The boy sounded as if he took personal offence to the banning of his pokemon, and, knowing Ash, he probably did.

"Out!" Snape was now shouting into Ash's face. This, he would later realise, was a very, _very_ big mistake.

Multiple things happened simultaneously. Snape narrowed his eyes at the duo, giving his best death stare. The rest of the class, having long since abandoned their potions to enjoy the much more interesting spectacle unfolding before them, took a collective gasp. Ash narrowed his own eyes, not one to back down from a challenge from even the most intimidating of authority figures. And Pikachu, sensing that his Pikapi was being threatened, got on the desk and fired off a strong thunder attack at Snape.

"No!" Ash realised what his pokemon had done seconds after it had happened, already too late to diffuse the situation. So, he took the only available option: keeping the damage to a minimum.

This was why, as the yellow electricity arched towards Snape, the trainer from Pallet tackled the teacher to the ground, successfully getting him out of the way. It also put Ash himself straight in the line of fire, and before anyone could react to the seemingly random assault on a teacher, Ash was enveloped in the electric energy and let out a piercing scream of pain.

Pikachu noticed seconds later that the scream he had expected originated from the one he was trying to protect, and opened his eyes to see his best friend on the floor, writhing in pain. Immediately he cut off the attack, but a full-power thunder could cause multitudes of damage from even seconds of exposure.

Ash sighed in relief as the pain decreased. 'Huh. Hurt less than I expected.' The trainer thought, remembering his last encounter with Pikachu's electricity at what he referred to now as 'The N Incident', a thunderbolt which had been powerful enough to force him to slip into a state of unconsciousness. This was not the worst he'd had, but the rest of the class had no way to know that. 'Well, maybe Iris can calm them down a bit...'

This hope was short lived, as the cacophony of screams that sounded moments later contained Iris's distinct yell of "Ash!"

"Ugh..." Ash forced himself to get up into at least a sitting position, and in doing so noticed that the whole class was circling him. 'Whoa. Must've spaced out a bit there.'

"Ash!" There was Iris's voice again. Concerned, but still irritated, "Are you okay? What were you _thinking_!"

"I was thinking," The boy panted slightly, not having quite yet recovered from the attack, "'Oh no, Pikachu's about to fry Snape.' And then I thought, 'He'll kill me if I let that happen', so I... got him out of the way."

"And got yourself right into the way! You need to be more careful!"

"Pshh," Ash waved off Iris's concerns, "I've been on the receiving end of enough thunderbolts to be just fine."

At this moment, Snape pushed himself into a sitting position, then stood with as much dignity as he could muster. He took a moment to brush down his robes, then spoke. "Ten points from Gryffindor, from you and your _rat_ each. And a detention for you, every night this week!"

Ash too stood up, unable to meet the gaze of his professor but at least able to level the gap somewhat. He took a deep breath, preparing to defend his actions, and then promptly collapsed straight back onto the dungeon floor, out cold.

* * *

**As usual: review please, and don't hesitate to point out any mistakes!**


	4. Book 1: 4

**A/n: As promised, chapter four's here! Back to regular scheduling after this, so the next chapter's on Monday.**

* * *

The world came back to Ash slowly. At first, he lay there, unable to do anything but listen to the incoherent mumbles that were probably supposed to represent some sort of official language. Slowly but surely his other senses returned, with the only one still not functioning being sight.

'Though,' Ash thought, glad that thinking was a thing he was able to do now, 'That probably has something to do with the fact that my eyes are closed...' Realising this to be true, Ash set about opening his eyes. It proved harder than first expected, but after the first few failed attempts Ash managed to keep his eyes open for long enough to see a slightly-blurred Iris doing a fish impression over his head.

Wait.

'Not a fish impression,' Ash realised, 'She's talking!'

After noticing this and concentrating intently on her words, Ash managed to understand what she was saying.

"-okay, Ash? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah..." Ash spoke, making Iris sigh in relief. "What... happened there?"

"You remember the Pikachu and Snape thing?" Ash nodded, sitting up as Iris continued. "Well, you kinda collapsed after that. So we took you to the hospital wing. Like a pokemon centre," She added at the confused expression she got, "Anyway, you've been here for about an hour now. I thought you said you could handle a thunderbolt that size?"

Ash laughed at the prod Iris gave. "Yeah, well, that was actually a THUNDER, so I deserve a break!" Ash defended himself brightly. Then he noticed the lack of pokemon in the room and his mood lessened considerably. "Where's Pikachu?"

At the question, Iris's hair rustled. Pikachu's head popped out and he winked at his trainer.

"Don't mention Pikachu being here though. The nurse said I wasn't allowed to take him in with me. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?"

Ash nodded enthusiastically, then pushed Pikachu's head back into its hiding place when he saw Madam Pomfrey approaching.

The nurse gave Ash a clean bill of health, and permission to go back to classes. He left with Iris soon after, the warning to 'make sure to check before letting Pikachu into the classroom next time' ringing in his head. 'What a strange universe, that pokemon aren't allowed to be out of their pokeballs!' Ash observed, following Iris to the next class... whatever that was.

"Uhh, Iris?" Ash started.

"Where are we next?" She guessed, receiving a nod of confirmation from Ash. "Defence Against the Dark Arts. Seems mysterious, doesn't it?"

* * *

Defence Against the Dark Arts turned out to be another failed lesson. Professor Quirrel was a useless, stammering man, who seemed to be unable to protect himself, let alone teach others to protect themselves. That, and Ash thought he seemed to have a strange aura surrounding him. Ash was the only one who picked up on this though, and he attributed it to his aura abilities. Thankfully, this was the last class they had to endure for the day, and there was time to try and locate Cilan before the day ended.

Iris suggested looking outside, and Ash complied. Spending so much time inside, and in the same place to boot, was starting to make him restless, and that was never a good thing.

Again Iris had good intuition, as they easily found their errant friend. The green haired boy was sat near the edge of a lake, eyes closed as he relaxed in the warm breeze.

"Not fishing?" Iris called, grabbing his attention.

"No, nothing to catch in this lake. Besides, the mix of good weather and serene scenery creates the perfect recipe for relaxation!"

Ash and Iris joined their companion in 'relaxation time', sitting in silence for a while before starting to discuss their Hogwarts experience.

"Well, my tale is nowhere near as exciting as yours," Cilan said in an understatement. He had already listened to the other's tales, gasping with horror and laughing aloud when appropriate. "I had Defence Against the Dark Arts first, and I must admit that I agree to your evaluations of him. He is most certainly unsuited to a teaching profession. As for the sinister aura, well... I certainly didn't sense anything of the sort, but that doesn't mean it isn't the case. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him in the future."

Cilan paused there, taking some time to recollect his second lesson.

"Now... second I had transfiguration. Your head of house is certainly impressive, is she not?" The compliment to McGonagall was seconded and thirded with the nods the statement gained. "We had a lecture about her expectations, then she demonstrated some basic transfigurations. It's certainly eye opening stuff, this magic lark. Anyway, after that class I walked down to the lake side, and then you turned up!"

When their catch up session was complete, the trio relaxed back into the grass and enjoyed the summer sun for a while in silence.

* * *

At dinner, the Gryffindors decided to stick with the rest of their house, sending an apologetic glance over to their Hufflepuff friend, who sent an understanding one in return.

There was a ridiculous amount of food, proving that he feast of the first night was to be a regular occurrence. Ash was glad that the food was good, and voiced his opinion on the matter with a full mouth of the 'd'lshus' food. He got a slightly irritated but accepting look from Iris, and it was Hermione who voiced her opinion on the matter.

"Stop talking with your mouth full like that. It's disgusting, and makes you look even less civilised than Ron." Hermione scolded, getting an indignant, and undignified, shout of denial from Ron. He only managed to prove Hermione's point though, as he did this with his mouth full.

Ash received a lot of questions from the first years about what had happened in potions, and he answered them all happily, waving off concern for his well being and showing how Pikachu was, actually, harmless, it was just Snape threatening Ash that he took offence to.

In the midst of the short question and answer sessions, Fred and George wandered over.

"I heard-"

"That you tackled-"

"Professor Snape!" The two spoke in the creepy synchronisation only twins could achieve. At Ash's nod of confirmation, they continued in unison with a shout of "Wicked!", high-fiving the slightly bewildered boy.

"See you in detention!" They took their leave, parting on the crushing reminder that the rest of the week wasn't going to be any fun, if Snape had a say in it. (And it seemed that he always did.)

"Don't take what they say seriously," Hermione advised when the terrible twosome were out of earshot. "They'll only get you in more trouble."

Ash nodded at the advice but didn't take it in, too busy contemplating what his detention would be like.

* * *

Ash rushed down another corridor, hoping that perhaps _this_ one would be the right one. His detention with Snape was due to start in ten minutes, but he couldn't at all figure out where the potions classroom _was_.

"He'll kill me if I'm late!" Ash worried out loud, trying to find a staircase. He knew he was supposed to be going to the dungeons, but he hadn't been able to find enough staircases to get him down there. It didn't help that everything looked the same, and it was so dark that... wait. Dark?

Sure enough, this corridor was darker than the rest he'd been exploring. Also, it seemed to be devoid of any signs of life, and no one had exactly been _cleaning_ it either. There were cobwebs everywhere, and not even the paintings on the walls were present.

"How odd..." Ash continued talking to himself. "What's going on here?"

Sense of curiosity overriding the feeling that he should _really be leaving now_, Ash carried on down the corridor until he reached a door at the end of it. Ash tried to open the door, but to no avail. 'It's locked...'

Not one to let such things deter him, Ash thought of ways to open the door. He smirked, finding a solution.

"Oshawott, come out quietly and unlock this door!" He whispered loudly to the otter pokemon as he came out of his pokeball.

"Osha, wott wott!" The pokemon nodded in understanding and proceeded to do just that. Ash returned him after thanking him, then pushed the door open.

He realised, when he saw the _three headed dog_, that he probably should've just left before when he noticed that something wasn't right. 'What on earth is something like _that_ doing here?'

As he moved to close the door, he noticed something by the dog's paws. 'A trapdoor... but what could it be guarding?"

After the three headed dog escapade, Ash managed to find the potions classroom quite easily. It made him wonder if perhaps the school was sentient, and conspiring against him... though without using words as big as that.

He wandered in with a minute to spare and saw the Weasley twins already sat down.

"Take a seat next to... them." Snape was stood at the front of the classroom already, and looked down at the three he had decided were trouble makers. "I see you don't have the rat today... so it _doesn't_ go everywhere with you?"

Ash scowled. "Actually, I had to bribe him not to come. With ketchup."

If Snape had heard the response he didn't show it, instead coming over to plonk three dirty cauldrons onto the desk. "Clean them." He instructed, then went back to his desk.

Ash frowned, but didn't object as he started to scrub the cauldron clean. They'd been there in a deafening silence for ten minutes when he finally snapped.

"I shouldn't even have to do this," He sulked, throwing his brush onto the table in protest. "I _saved_ you from that attack, and you know it."

Snape looked up from his desk, but didn't comment.

"It's not like I could stop Pikachu. He always protects me, and he thought you were gonna hurt me. He thunderbolts anyone who does, and even if you didn't know it doesn't make it my fault." Now Fred and George stopped messing with their cauldrons to look at him curiously. "And back in _my_ universe, pokemon go everywhere with you, and no one questions it."

"Well," Snape was ready to dish out a lecture, "This_ isn't_ your universe, so-"

"I _know_ that!" Ash snapped. He was properly angry now. "You know why? 'Cos in _my_ universe, the only people as mean as you are _bad guys_ that want to take over the world! And that's what Pikachu thought you were!" He stood up, running over to the door and slamming it shut behind him as he left.

There was silence in the room for a while, broken when Fred and George spoke in unison: "You messed up there professor!" They said brightly.

Snape just stared at the closed door.

* * *

After that night, things started to look up again. Ash's detentions were mysteriously lifted, and Pikachu was allowed in all classes (as long as he didn't do anything to disrupt them). Snape refused to so much as look at Ash, and Pikachu liked it that way, even if it did confuse his trainer.

Ash hadn't told anyone what happened in the detention, except Pikachu. The electric mouse had nodded when he was told, seeming to have predicted this reaction from Ash.

The rest of the week carried on as normal, with classes every day followed by finding Cilan by the lakeside in the evenings. This changed slightly on Friday, when Ash was invited to go with Harry and Ron to Hagrid. Iris was invited too, but declined in favour of meeting with Cilan as usual.

Tea at Hagrid's was almost a complete waste of time, but the enormous man did have some interest in pokemon, so it wasn't too bad. Ash explained the topic with enthusiasm to the half giant while Harry sat there in deep thought and Ron tried to eat the food they'd been provided. It proved inedible in the end, but at least someone had tried.

They left not long later with a promise to return, and to make time to see pokemon other than Pikachu.

* * *

**Also: thanks to everyone who's reviewed! It's a great motivator!**

**(And Hoenn remakes omg amazing can't wait!)**


	5. Book 1: 5

**A/n: Has entire chapter ready but forgets to post it (whoops)  
Well it's here now, another instalment in the thrilling saga**

**Enjoy**

* * *

"Why can't we have more lessons with the Hufflepuffs!" Ash pouted as he walked with Iris to their first flying lesson. The idea had excited him at first, but then he realised that the lessons were to be shared with the Slytherins again and was suddenly less enamoured with the thought. It hadn't put him off completely, and he couldn't help but feel a bit enthusiastic. It _was_ a chance to fly, after all.

Iris chose not to get into a debate about the class schedules, too happy that they were outside for once. "Stop being such a kid, Ash! Anyway, we're gonna fly! What d'you think that'll be like?"

The happiness was infectious, and soon the two were laughing as they shared their experiences of flying on pokemon, or with pokemon in Ash's case, as he had been lifted many a time by a legendary's psychic powers.

Madam Hooch taught the flying lessons, also working as the Quidditch coach and referee. She instructed the class to make two lines, and Ash and Iris took their places next to Harry, Ron and Hermione, each stood next to a broom.

When they were instructed to stick their hands out and say 'up', the whole class complied. The action gained mixed results. Iris's broom came to her with some enthusiasm, nearly moving too fast for her to stop it. Harry's also got to his hand easily, but Hermione seemed to be having some trouble getting it to do anything more than flop about.

"It looks like a magikarp!" Ash teased.

"Shut up." Hermione didn't take the joke very well even though she didn't know what a magikarp was, embarrassed at her failure. "You haven't made your broom do anything either!"

It was true, but not because of a failure to get the broom to react. Ash had been staring at his broom intently while everyone else was speaking to it.

"Ash?" Iris noticed the unnatural silence from the boy. Her words seemed to shake him out of whatever trance he was in and he smiled at her.

"Yeah. It's just the brooms... they're alive!"

"What?" Iris gave him a strange look, "Are you sure?"

"They _feel_ alive anyway. And it'd explain why they can do stuff when they tell you to at least." Ash looked at the broom contemplatively for a second.

"Hey, broom?" He talked to the not-so-inanimate-after-all object, "If you can hear me, go up."

The broom rose. Pikachu jumped onto it, squeaking in delight at the new mode of transportation. Harry looked quite impressed at the discovery, but Hermione didn't believe it yet. She told Ash as much, and he gave the broom more instructions in retaliation.

"Hit Draco on the head. Not hard, just enough to get his attention." For a few seconds, the broom just continued hovering. Hermione was about to make a snide comment when Ash spoke again. "He's the blonde one next to the two tall guys."

This seemed enough instruction for the broom, and it moved over to the unwitting target. Hermione gaped in shock as the broom fell down on Draco's head, making him spin around to face his aggressor while rubbing his head. The broom moved away just as Draco had turned round fully and returned to Ash. Pikachu jumped off the broom and onto Ash's shoulder, looking quite pleased to have had the chance to get involved in the action.

The Gryffindors burst out laughing at Draco's confusion, and he scowled at them in return. His gaze locked on Harry, and he marched over to him, Crabbe and Goyle in tow. "Think it's funny, Potter?" Draco used Harry's name as though it was an insult. To the first year Slytherin, it probably was.

When Harry didn't respond, Draco carried on. "I'll be telling my father about this, you know. I don't know how you managed to get out of there so quickly-"

"It wasn't him! It was the broom!" Ash stepped between the two, not having anticipated his actions causing an argument. "And I told the broom to do it, so-"

"Ooh! So you're a _broom whisperer_ now, Ketchum?" This comment was met by jeers and laughs from the Slytherin side, which quickly stopped as Madam Hooch gave the next instruction. She hadn't noticed the fight breaking out, too busy giving pointers to those whose brooms weren't behaving.

"On my whistle, I want you to kick off, hover in the air for a few seconds and then go back down. Okay? One, two, three."

Madam Hooch didn't get to blow the whistle, as Neville took off a few seconds too soon. The boy floated upwards, unable to control his ascent. His ride started getting wilder as he was jerked around by the broom, finally zooming towards a window.

"Come down!" Ash yelled, getting a few odd looks for his words. The instruction came just too late, as the broom shook Neville off just before it obeyed Ash and came back down to the ground. Ash sighed in exasperation as the broomstick hovered in front of him expectantly.

Up in the air, Neville's cloak was about to break and send him to the floor. It did, and he landed with a dull thud. Madam Hooch rushed over to him, concernedly checking him over. Pronouncing a sprained wrist to be the extent of his injuries to placate the increasingly worried crowd that had gathered, she picked the boy up and warned everyone to keep their feet on the ground before she left.

After she left, Draco returned to his trouble making. He had managed to find Neville's remembrall, a present from his grandmother that he'd received at breakfast. The Slytherin, egged on by the crowd of his housemates cheering for him, mounted his broom and took to the air.

Harry sped after him, and Ash followed. Draco chucked the object and Harry caught it easily, floating back down when he did. Ash flew closer to Draco as the two made their own descents, and warned him not to make a move like that again. Draco simply laughed the warning off, and the two watched as Harry was dragged away by McGonagall moments later.

"Great. Now look what you've done!" Ash snapped at a laughing Draco as he sped off after the two retreating figures.

Ash caught up to the two as McGonagall disappeared into a classroom.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"I dunno. She said something about wood though..." Ash could tell that Harry was worried about the consequences of his actions.

"Don't worry. If it's anything bad, I'll tell her it was my fault. It was, kinda..." Ash comforted Harry, with mild success. Pikachu even played up his cuteness to be a distraction, jumping into Harry's arms and cooing happily. It had more success than Ash had in his attempts, but still failed to make Harry completely feel better. There was no more time to try and make him feel any better than that though, as McGonagall came back.

"Harry, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, meet your new seeker."

As it turned out, Harry ended up getting rewarded for his disobedience, or technically his flying skills, but it was only because of his disobedience that it'd happened. McGonagall noticed Ash following them, and he explained his own part in the events. She had apparently seen him, but hadn't recognised him from a distance. She complimented him on his flying skills, saying that she'd have to see what she could do to get him a place on the team.

Ash wasn't sure what all of it meant, but he was glad that no one was getting into trouble undeservedly.

* * *

At dinner, it was all explained. Fred and George congratulated Harry on his getting into the team, and told Ash that even though he was good, there were no free spaces on the team.

"You can still come and practise with us though!" Fred, or perhaps George, commiserated. Ash wasn't too disappointed, still not sure what Quidditch even was.

Draco came over after the congratulations were over, insulting Harry and being generally mean, as usual. Ash had been told to 'shove off, broom boy' when he tried to split up the argument. Eventually, the argument was resolved, with a promise to have a 'wizard's duel' later that night. Ash wasn't sure what it was, but figured that Harry, and Ron- who was also going to go along, would tell him when they got back. He made a mental note to stay up to ask them about it as he made his way over to the Hufflepuff table.

Ash was woken in the early hours of the morning by Harry, Ron and Hermione arguing. He sat up straighter on the armchair he'd accidentally drifted up on, shaking Pikachu back to wakefulness as he did.

The argument ended when Hermione flounced off, and Ash got up to ask what had happened. Apparently, the trio had found the dog and the trapdoor.

"Oh yeah, I've seen that. Found it on the way to that detention with Snape!" Ash whispered loudly, following the two boys back to the dormitory. "Do you know what it's guarding?"

Harry nodded in response and explained his theory about the object Hagrid had taken from Gringotts. Both Ron and Ash agreed that it was suspicious, and decided to investigate it themselves.

"I'll tell Iris and Cilan, see if they know anything." Ash decided. Harry seemed slightly reluctant to let more people, especially those from other houses, in on it but he agreed when Ash explained his trust in them.

* * *

The next day at breakfast, Harry received a broomstick. He and Ron rushed off to open it and put it away out of the sight of the rest of the school, as per McGonagall's request. Draco was following them, going unnoticed by the two excited boys.

Ash frowned as he watched, but didn't move from his place next to Cilan, who was talking about something that had happened in his dorm the previous night.

"And then Susan stopped them by- Ash, are you listening?" Cilan asked, noticing that the boy kept staring over at the door.

"Not really..." Ash admitted, "It's just, Draco was following Harry and Ron, so I wanna..."

Cilan seemed to understand what Ash was getting at and motioned for him to leave, turning his focus to Iris and carrying on the conversation, making her laugh with his overdramatic actions.

Ash hurried off, and was relieved to find that any situations had already diffused by the time he got there. Ron and Harry seemed quite pleased with themselves, and he was informed of their run in with Draco, interrupted by Professor Flitwick, as they headed off together to the first lesson of the day.

Harry had a Quidditch practise session with Wood after classes, and Ash had been invited over to watch and possibly help. The two arrived before their mentor, so Harry got out his new broom and Ash grabbed one from the closet, joining Harry in the air. The two flew around uninterrupted for a good half hour, playing tag on the brooms. Harry was ahead of Ash most of the time due to his superior broom, but Ash found that even the school brooms could reach impressive speeds with a bit of encouragement.

"Having fun, you two?" Oliver alerted them to his presence from the floor. He was carrying a case, which he told them was for holding the various balls they needed.

After a quick explanation of Quidditch the three took to the skies, practicing their catching skills with golf balls. Oliver seemed optimistic for the team's chances of winning after watching Harry fly, and told him as much. He complimented Ash too, inviting him to future practises.

* * *

Time flew by after that, and Halloween was fast approaching. Ash made sure to split his time equally between spending time with the Gryffindor boys and with Iris and Cilan, though it left him with little time for anything else.

"Sure like to keep us busy, hey Pikachu?" The pokemon smiled. He was sat on Ash's head as the two headed to their charms lesson.

At the rate Ash was going he would probably be late, so he bobbed his head to get Pikachu off and the two sprinted the rest of the way. They arrived just in time and Ash slipped into his seat as the professor explained the levitating charm to the class. Ash picked his wand up when they were left to their own devices and pointed it at his feather.

"Wingardim leviosa!" He said with conviction, though it managed nothing more than to make the feather twitch.

"Looks like I'm the one with the magikarp this time..." Ash muttered as he glared at the feather.

Pikachu picked the offending object up and threw it into the air with a "Pi-pikachu, pikachu pi!", laughing as it floated down back to the desk. Ash ruffled Pikachu's fur as he jokingly praised his friend's magical ability.

Ash concentrated again on the feather-lifting task. He sighed, closing his eyes and concentrating on the object. It was then that he noticed that he could see it even with his eyes closed, a slightly blurred outline of it. 'Aura vision...' He realised. He concentrated on it further, imaging it lifting into the air as he'd seen Hermione's do earlier. To his surprise, the feather actually began to float, despite him never casting any kind of spell. 'What...'

"Ketchum's done it too!" Flitwick announced brightly, shocking Ash out of his thoughts. The feather dropped when he released his concentration on the object.

Ash stared at the feather in shock as everyone went on with the task. "Wingardium leviosa," He tried the spell again, using the correct pronunciation this time. The feather lifted easily and Ash found that he could control it in the air. 'Hmm...'

All thoughts of his accidental aura usage were pushed from his mind as a mischievous grin placed itself on his face. "Wingardium leviosa!" He shouted again, and this time it was a shocked Pikachu that lifted into the air, joining the few feathers.

* * *

Halloween was no longer approaching, but actually here. Ash, Iris and Cilan sat on the Gryffindor table this time, enjoying the food and Cilan's tales of Halloween celebrations back in Striatron City. Iris explained how the Village of Dragons wasn't big on festivities at Halloween, but she still went trick or treating with her friends.

"This is the first time I've celebrated it in ages!" Ash admitted to the small crowd of people who were interested in the pokemon world. "You can't really do much but tell spooky stories when you're in the middle of the woods at Halloween, and that's where I always am, being on a journey and all."

"They just let ten year olds off into the world on their own? Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Neville asked, not overly enamoured with the idea.

"Well, not really." Ash said, taking time to think about it more, "I think our universe is just more peaceful than yours. Sure, we have a few evil groups out to take over the world, but other than that... well, the worst WE ever ran into was Team Rocket, and they aren't exactly dangerous..."

"They're just annoying!" Iris agreed, "Always trying to steal our pokemon!" At this, Axew popped out of her hair to nod enthusiastically.

"Yes..." Cillan said, "I'm glad they didn't manage to follow us to this universe. That would've been terrible."

The trio nodded, thinking for a moment about what life at Hogwarts would've been like with the regular weekly interruptions from Team Rocket.

The rest of the evening was quite an enjoyable one until Professor Quirrel came in stammering about trolls in the dungeon. When he collapsed, there were a few seconds of chaos until Dumbledore brought order.

Instructions were given to both staff and students. The meal had been broken up by now, officiated when the plates of food magically disappeared back to where they'd come from. Prefects began getting the students organised, ready to go back to the common rooms.

"Well, see you guys!" Cilan waved Ash and Iris off as he went back to his table to leave the Great Hall. No one was really concerned about the troll anymore, the teachers already having been sent on their way to stop it.

* * *

Ash and Iris safely made it back to the common room, and it was only when they got there that they realised that Harry, Ron and Hermione had disappeared. Just as they were preparing to go look for them, the three rushed through the painting and collapsed on the chairs in front of the fire. They let out a collective sigh, then started laughing.

"Where were you?" Iris came over to the fire, looking at them curiously.

"Girls bathroom!" Harry laughed, "We just knocked out a troll!"

Ash begged the trio for details, and Ron happily obliged. He spent a long time describing the way he'd used a 'bloody great' levitation spell with pride, and then thanked Hermione for taking the blame for them.

"That's great!" Ash said as Ron finished his tale, "Now we can all be friends!"

This caused Harry and Ron to look expectantly to Hermione. She nodded, forgiving them for teasing her and accepting the friendship request.

* * *

**Aura and friendship and happy times. Shame it can't last...**


	6. Book 1: 6

**A/n: Back again with the weekly update. Thanks to reviewers for general awesomeness!**

**Enjoy**

* * *

After the troll escapades, Ron, Harry and Hermione became fast friends. Soon they were inseparable and started to leave Ash out of their conversations and plans more often. While slightly disappointed at the development, it did leave him with more time to spend with Cilan and Iris.

The pokemon trainers started visiting the library more often, with the weather getting colder and days spent by the lake becoming less enjoyable due to the temperature. Today they were braving the weather, enjoying a slight sunny spell.

"It'll be Christmas soon." Cilan noted, watching as Oshawott tried to shoot Pikachu with water gun. The mouse retaliated with a quick thundershock and Oshawott deflected it with his scallop. The electricity shot harmlessly off into the sky.

"Really? Wow, time sure is going by fast over here, isn't it?" Iris commented, feeding Axew a berry.

"I imagine that will be down to the way they're keeping us so busy." Cilan explained, "We just aren't noticing the passage of time as much. The Christmas holidays will seem to take ages in comparison, when we don't have any classwork."

Iris nodded. "Can't wait for a break. Though, I'm not so excited about the snow part..." She shivered in anticipation of the wintery weather.

The two lapsed into silence, watching as Ash played with the pokemon. They were still doing so when they noticed Harry and his friends approaching the lakeside. Cilan waved them over, and they came to sit next to them.

"So, we've found your hiding place." Harry said. He had come to find out what Ash kept running off for, and wasn't very surprised to find him with his pokemon.

"Yes, we come here pretty often." Cilan replied, "We have to. The pokemon need to be let out and fed."

With those words, Cilan produced from his bag several food bowls and bags of food.

"How do you get that?" Hermione asked, "There aren't any places to buy food for pokemon over here."

Cilan explained his job as a pokemon connoisseur, and the way that he made food for each of the pokemon here daily. Harry and Ron seemed quite impressed, and Hermione nodded. At the mention of food, Ash rounded up all the pokemon and came over to the five sitting away from the water.

"Food time guys!" Ash cheered, and his pokemon dug into the food with vigour. Nobody questioned Ash's ability to hear the word food from afar and miss everything else, instead watching as the pokemon dug into the fruits of Cilan's labour.

The day of the first Quidditch match of the season, Ash and Iris came down to breakfast decked out in the Gryffindor colours. They sat at the Hufflepuff table and grinned at Cilan.

"Hi guys..." Cilan greeted with slight trepidation. He had seen that look on their faces before, and it always ended in trouble.

The two didn't respond, but pulled a Gryffindor hat and scarf out of nowhere and forced them onto Cilan. Pikachu helped, sticking a flag into the unsuspecting connoisseur's hand.

Work done, the two sat back and admired their new masterpiece.

"You look great Cilan!" Ash complimented, "Now come on! We have to cheer Harry on!"

The Quidditch match turned out to be quite the event. Harry was nearly knocked off his broom after Snape charmed it, and was only saved from his jerking broom when Hermione set fire to the professor's robes. Despite the setback, Gryffindor managed a win after Harry caught the snitch... in his mouth.

After the match, the six friends went over to Hagrid's hut to discuss the match, with Ron explaining Snape's misdeeds to Harry.

Hagrid didn't believe for a second that Snape would do anything to harm Harry, but couldn't offer any explanation into why Harry's broom would've been misbehaving otherwise. Despite his best efforts to convince them otherwise, Hagrid wasn't getting anywhere with explaining Snape's innocence.

"Well, I still think Snape's suspicious." Harry said as Hagrid continued with his denial. "He was using the troll as a distraction to get to that dog at Halloween, too."

"Who told you about fluffy?" Hagrid asked suspiciously. He quickly explained his ownership of the dog, but refused to divulge into why the creature was sat guarding the trapdoor.

"Come on!" Ash pleaded, "You've _gotta_ tell us what's down there!"

"No. What's in there is the business of Albus Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel." Hagrid said, realising instantly that he'd just revealed information accidentally.

The half giant shooed them all off before they could reveal anything else, muttering "I shouldn't have said that" as he did.

It was business as usual until the school broke up for Christmas. Ron's parents were away, so Ash, Iris and Cilan had to stay at Hogwarts. They probably would've stuck around anyway, as Harry was staying too and they didn't want him to be alone. Hermione had said her goodbyes earlier, as she was going home - her parents had planned a holiday, so it was unavoidable.

Currently, the three pokemon trainers sat by in the Great Hall, watching Harry and Ron play chess. It was a slightly different type of chess to the game the three were used to, with the pieces moving of their own accord and giving input of varying degrees of usefulness to the two wizards playing. Harry was losing quite badly by this point, a fact which Ron was certainly glad of.

"This is boring," Ash complained, neither understanding the rules nor wishing to try it for himself. "I'm gonna go train outside."

Hearing no objections, the aspiring pokemon master ran out, leaving the others to their chess game.

Christmas day started off with the traditional exchange of presents, and Harry was excited to find that even _he_ had got some. Cilan came over to the common room, being let in by the Fat Lady when Ash explained that he was a friend.

Cilan had gifted each Gryffindor with a chocolate frog, and a personalised lure for each of them.

"He's a fishing connoisseur." Iris offered as explanation as Ash admired the lure, made in his likeness.

"I can keep the Ash lure with the Misty lure!" He laughed, rushing upstairs to do just that.

Iris had given everyone a hat, scarf and gloves ("To protect you from the cold!"), and a handmade guide to dragon types.

Ash had drawn some pictures of pokemon, and dished them out between the two who had never seen them before. He gave images of all the dragon types he'd seen to Iris, and Cilan got doodles of various fishing spots, livened up by the people he'd put in them. Each was a representation of what had happened when he fished there, and a surprising amount had Ash himself drawn in at the bottom of the lake.

The drawings weren't works of art, but everyone appreciated the effort that had gone into them.

Ron wasn't as impressed as the others at his mother's Christmas jumpers, explaining that he hated the colour that his came in. Ash was impressed that she'd managed to make his a pokeball red, with his first initial stitched on in white. Iris had one the colour of her hair, and even Pikachu had a small yellow one, decorated with a darker yellow thunderbolt.

Harry was gifted an invisibility cloak by an unknown person, which Ron assured them was awesome.

After everyone had finished gushing over their presents, they all headed down to have Christmas dinner in the Great Hall.

The food was amazing, and throughout the meal there was barely any chatter as everyone was so concentrated on savouring the food.

"Hey, Ronnikins!" An otherwise silent meal was disrupted by the twins' usual easy joking manner, "Nice to see you wearing the jumper this year!"

"Shut up," Ron blushed furiously, crossing his arms across the offending piece of clothing, "Everyone else's wearing them."

"Ah, but no one hates them quite like you do, eh?" They joked in unison, tugging Ron's jumper out playfully.

"R for Ronnikins..." Fred read, "And a H for Harry, A for Ash..."

"Then G and F for Gred and Forge!" George finished. The two pushed Ron out of the way to sit down, grabbing plates and filling them happily.

After they finished devouring the contents of the table, the Weasley twins invited the group outside to play.

Outside, Ash and Harry had instigated a match of Quidditch. It wasn't a full match, with Ash, Iris and Cilan facing off against Harry, Ron and the twins. It wasn't a completely fair one either, as Ash's team only had one competent player, but Iris and Cilan quickly got a hang of it and soon they were in the middle of a quite intense game of mid-air tag, having abandoned the Quidditch idea a while before; a lack of players really diminished the fun factor.

After a while everyone came down, and Fred and George suggested a snowball fight. Iris became the judge of that, not liking the idea of being pelted with snow, and the match became Ash, Cilan and Harry vs. the Weasleys. The Weasleys were at a disadvantage this time, as the trainers called out their pokemon for assistance in snowball making. Iris supplied the other side with pokemon to make it more fair.

The match was starting to really get underway when a familiar voice broke through the happy yelling.

"Prepare for trouble, we're in the snow!"

At the start of the familiar motto, the pokemon trainers started looking frantically around for the troublemaking team.

"And make it double, some of you we don't know!" James's voice rung out, but their positions still hadn't been found.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

By now, the others were starting to realise that their friends had stopped.

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

They were listening too, trying to work out where the noise was coming from to no avail.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

Harry looked questioningly towards Ron, who gave a shrug in return. Those in the know didn't notice the exchange, preoccupied with finding the criminals.

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

Ash sighed. Of course Team Rocket would follow them here.

"Jessie!" The woman popped out of a snow drift as she said her name, startling everyone.

"James!" Her purple haired friend followed suit, wearing a santa hat.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

The source of the noise revealed, the wizards tried to pull out their wands, but realised that they'd left them inside when they'd gone out, not expecting to need magic and not having convenient pocket space for them in the clothes they were wearing.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth that's right!" The cat pokemon finally popped into view, holding a remote.

Instead of the usual response of an angry "Team Rocket!" shouted from the twerps, they only gained a few confused glances at first.

Finally noticing the confusion of their friends, Ash explained Team Rocket to them. "These are the bad guys that always try to steal our pokemon!"

"You won't get our pokemon, team rocket!" Ash shouted, confused when he only received chuckles from the group.

"We already have!" And Jessie was right. Meowth pressed the button on his remote and their latest robot popped up, a large humanoid figure with a glass panel revealing all of the pokemon, banging desperately against the screen. "We used the distraction from our motto to swipe them all!"

Ash growled. He made to run up to the machine, but it moved over the lake. Instead, Ash grabbed his broom and mounted it, flying after them.

"You won't get away with this!" He shouted after the retreating thieves. Eventually Ash caught up to them, by now in the middle of the lake. He prepared to jump onto the robot, but it took to the skies before he could.

Ash looked up as the machine rose into the air, then flew after it again. The slow ascent of the heavy machine was no match for a broomstick, and Ash managed to catch up easily. He hovered next to the glass, shouting instructions to the pokemon on the other side.

Team Rocket looked on anxiously from their perch above the pokemon.

"Is it attack proof?" James asked Meowth.

"No. Didn't think the twerps would be able to catch up!" The cat pokemon answered, looking on with horror as a final iron tail from Pikachu broke the glass, and the flying types let the others climb onto their backs.

"Is that everyone?" Ash asked. Charizard nodded before he took off, leaving only the water types behind. They jumped down into the lake and started swimming to the shore.

Ash glared at Team Rocket, who were still trying to escape. He carried on going upwards to match their level, now a good fifty metres above ground.

"Not this time!" Ash shouted, ordering Pikachu to "thunderbolt 'em".

The machine was hit hard by the electric attack, and as meowth revealed that he hadn't electricity-proofed it either, it exploded.

Team rocket soared off with a "Team Rocket's blasting off again!", able to escape after all.

The explosion had the opposite effect on Ash, who was knocked off his broom and into a free fall. As he made his way down to the water, Ash managed to get over to Pikachu and grab him, clutching him tight and curling round the mouse to protect him from the force of hitting the water.

The two hit the lake with a large splash, accompanied by the screams of "Ash!" and various variances of the pokemon's names. The humans all mounted their brooms to go search for the two, and Oshawott went to search in the water.

* * *

**Bit of a cliffhanger... whoopsy! (Looks like that one guy in the reviews was right about Team Rocket...)  
Quick question for anyone still reading the author's note: I plan to go into the second book. Would it be better to create a new fic, or continue putting it on this one? Review with your opinions, please!**


	7. Book 1: 7

**A/n: Thanks to those who voiced their opinions. I think I'm going to go with mainstreet52's idea. So, books 1, 2 and 3 are going to be in one fic, at least. Possibly book four too, depending on how long it gets.**

**I forgot to put this up sooner, but at least I got there eventually!**

* * *

Harry looked at the selection of books and sighed. After Team Rocket ruining Ash's Christmas, Iris and Cilan had gone to Madam Pomfrey and were still there, one day later, waiting for him to wake up. Harry and Ron had gone off to the library to investigate Nicolas Flamel, as per Hermione's request, having decided that if Ash couldn't have fun with them, they may as well be productive.

This wasn't a good decision.

Ron was distracted worrying about Ash, as was Harry. But the boy who lived had another reason to be distracted: the mirror he'd discovered last night which had showed him his parents. He'd stumbled upon it quite randomly while escaping from Filch, ending up staying there for the rest of the night, simply staring at his parents. The mirror displayed a ghostly image of them, highlighting their lack of life even in a fantasy. It was quite a bittersweet image, one he knew he'd be returning to the upcoming night.

"We should just give up." Ron suggested, earning a nod from Harry. The two walked to the Hospital Wing in silence, not discussing where they were going but both knowing that they were headed in the same direction anyway.

When they arrived, Madam Pomfrey seemed reluctant to let so many people in at once, allowing them "just this once, because it's Christmas".

"There's no point in being here," She reminded them, "He isn't going to wake up today."

Ron and Harry nodded, but dragged chairs up beside Cilan and Iris regardless. The two turned and acknowledged them with a smile, then continued looking at Ash. Pikachu didn't move throughout the exchange, staring intently at Ash from his place on the boy's pillow.

"He'll wake up today." Iris whispered to the two.

"But he's only been out for, what? Since seven yesterday... fourteen hours now?" Harry was doubtful. He checked the clock to confirm that, yes, it had barely been half a day.

"We know Ash," Cilan assured, "He'll be awake any time now."

Neither Harry nor Ron believed the trainer's words, but they didn't say anything about it, instead opting to silently sit by Ash's bedside.

* * *

Ash found himself swimming in the strange half-conscious state again. There was no background noise to listen to, but he knew that someone was there. He concentrated, trying to get _some_ sort of sense to start working again. The first one that stepped up to the plate was his aura vision. He lay there, able to sense the blurred outlines of Pikachu, Iris, Cilan, Harry and Ron sitting there.

He could feel the bed now, thin sheets stuffy and far too warm. Despite that he still felt quite cold, not shivering to warm himself up. Pikachu was beginning to notice that he was awake now; he'd have to get up properly soon.

Ash let out a low moan as he started pushing himself up, still unable to push his eyes open. The four gathered students all let out a collective gasp, Harry and Ron rushing off to find Madam Pomfrey while Iris and Cilan helped him to sit up.

"Ash? Are you okay?" Cilan asked, concerned. Ash nodded an affirmative, still not opening his eyes.

"Are you gonna open your eyes?" Iris asked. Ash couldn't see, due to the mentioned lack of open eyes, but he was certain that Iris's expression would be one of irritated concern right now.

"Why should I?" Ash asked petulantly, forgetting for a moment that they didn't know about his aura. Not having the energy to put effort into explaining it now, Ash sighed and started to open his eyes. A blurry image of Pikachu came into view right in front of his face, and he made it clearer with a few blinks.

Pikachu let out a happy squeal when Ash opened his eyes, rubbing his face cutely against his trainer's contentedly. Looking at Pikachu, close as he was to Ash, made his eyes blur again for a few seconds, and he couldn't see Iris and Cilan properly for it.

Just as he regained his regular vision, Madam Pomfrey came into view. A look of quiet concern adorned her features; she hadn't expected Iris and Cilan's absurd claims to be correct.

"Oh my, he really is awake..." The nurse gave him a quick look over. "You shouldn't be awake so soon, after what happened..."

"I'm fine." Ash reassured. "I recover pretty quickly. How long was I out?"

"Only fourteen hours!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, clearly impressed with his recovery rate. Ash was significantly less impressed.

"Fourteen whole hours?" He said, "That's ages for just a quick fall and, like, a few minutes underwater!"

Madam Pomfrey was shocked by the boy's words, but he didn't notice. She didn't notice him mutter "took me less time to recover from _dying_", which was good, as the statement may have fried her brain.

"Well," Madam Pomfrey looked Ash over again before continuing reluctantly, "You _look_ okay, so... I guess you can go now."

Ash thanked the nurse, getting ready and then joining the others, who had been kicked out when he awoke, in the corridor.

Harry and Ron marvelled in his healing abilities as they all made their way to the Gryffindor common room, and Cilan returned his pokeballs to him. As they walked, Pikachu transferred from where he had been sitting on Cilan's shoulder over to Ash's again.

* * *

Ash was woken that night by Harry, who was trying to sneak out of the room.

"What're you doing?" He asked, getting up to follow. Pikachu, roused at the same time as his trainer, hopped onto Ash's shoulder as he spoke.

Harry jumped at the words, swivelling round to face Ash. His eyes darted around as he searched for an excuse, the deer in the headlights expression not leaving his face.

After a few seconds of panic thought, Harry deflated, accepting his fate.

"Fine," He relented, "I'll show you... just don't tell anyone..."

Ash nodded, clambering out of bed and ducking, on Harry's command, under the invisibility cloak.

Harry led Ash through the castle. Given the chance to view it in a completely different way now that it was the middle of the night, Ash made sure to examine the castle's corridors. He noted interestedly that the paintings, already confirmed to be quite sentient and capable of moving from one frame to the next, could also sleep. An advantage for people lurking the corridors at night - the paintings were prone to mentioning things that they saw occurring around the castle; rumours in Hogwarts spread quickly for a reason.

After a long walk through the moonlit castle, they arrived at their destination: a room with a mirror in. It was completely empty other than this small detail, leaving Ash wondering what had been so amazing that Harry had discovered. Harry moved Ash into a position in front of the mirror, asking him what he saw.

"I can see myself..." Ash said, brows furrowed in confusion. He still couldn't see what was so amazing, but he had to admit: the mirror was weird. "I'm the pokemon master now. Pikachu's there too! I can't see you though..."

Harry sighed. He'd shown the mirror to Ron a few nights previous and received the same reaction. He wondered briefly what Pikachu was looking at, but had no way to find out.

Pikachu was looking at almost the same image as Ash. Ash had succeeded in his goal, and the two were celebrating their joint victory. The only difference was that Pikachu was holding a bottle of ketchup in this image.

"Guess you just see what you want?" Ash wondered, examining the mirror. "Mirror of Erised..." He read, looking up at the words inscribed across the top.

"Pikachu? Pika chu pika?" The mouse asked, tilting his head slightly. Harry frowned at the pokemon's language, nt understanding it in the least.

"Yeah..." Ash, concentrating on something unseen in front of him, murmured, "You're right, Pik. It is desire backwards!"

* * *

Soon it was term time again, and Hermione re-joined the group. She arrived in the morning, the Hogwarts Express precisely on time for the most important meal of the day.

Students bustled into the Great Hall that morning, a rush of activity of its nature not having been seen for weeks. Ron spotted Hermione's frizz of hair in the midst of the crowd and waved her over appropriately.

They swapped stories of their holiday experiences at breakfast, and Hermione was horrified when told about the Team Rocket escapade. She was also disappointed to hear of the failures of Harry and Ron in their Flamel information acquisition mission. There wasn't much they could do about that though, because when term started it signalled the beginning of lessons and homework, and the end of free time.

Harry and Ash spent much of the precious little time they did have for themselves in Quidditch practice. The next Gryffindor match had been announced, and it was against Hufflepuff. This on its own wasn't too bad, but the fact that Snape was refereeing meant that the Gryffindor team was going to have to pull out all of the stops to bag a win.

They were all hanging around in the common room after one of the practices, Cilan's appearance there now being a regular occurrence, when Neville hopped into the room.

He was literally hopping, as his legs had been bound together. The boy explained his encounter with Draco Malfoy as Hermione undid the spell, releasing his legs. He crumpled as his legs were unlocked, partly from relief and partly because he lost his already precarious balance.

"Thanks," Neville said gratefully. He didn't move to stand up from his place on the floor, still looking quite upset.

Harry picked up on the boy's sadness and offered him a chocolate frog. Neville accepted the gift and ate it slowly, offering Harry the card inside.

"No thanks. I already have..." Harry got halfway through declining the card when he stopped, snatching it from a startled Neville's hands.

"That's where I recognised it from!" Harry exclaimed, showing the card to Hermione, "Nicolas Flamel! He worked with Dumbledore! It's on the card!"

Hearing this news sparked some memory in Hermione, who sprinted off towards the girl's room. Neville stood up. He was still confused, but didn't want any part in the adventure that was starting, so he walked off.

Hermione returned with a massive book, describing it as light reading material. She opened it, turning to the appropriate page and showing them the information on the philosopher's stone. The group nodded as they read, agreeing that this was what the dog must be guarding.

"So, Snape's after that?" Harry said, sparking a discussion about how to stop the teacher from taking the stone, and any possible motives for him taking it.

* * *

The day of the match approached quickly. On the day, Ash and Iris went over to the Hufflepuff table at breakfast, looking for Cilan. They were surprised when they didn't see him, but were redirected by a first year girl who told them that he was already on the Gryffindor table.

When they found Cilan, it was easy to see why they'd missed him the first time. Despite it being his house that the Gryffindors were up against, Cilan was decked out in red and gold.

"I thought you'd be cheering on your own team." Iris commented as Ash started attacking his toast. Like his trainer, Pikachu was also getting into his breakfast, currently trying to pry the lid off a bottle of ketchup.

"Come now, you didn't think I wasn't going to cheer on my friends?" Cilan mocked a hurt tone, taking the ketchup from Pikachu and opening it. Pikachu let out a 'chaaa' of contented appreciation, licking the treat happily.

"I suppose so." Iris said, ending the conversation there as both of them joined the other two in eating.

* * *

The match was, as always, an action packed and adrenaline filled affair for even the people watching it.

"Go Harry!" Ash shouted. The boy had just flown past, though he hadn't been concentrating on his friends. He was too busy searching for the snitch. A glimmer of gold had flashed past his vision a few moments ago; he was giving chase.

Harry was put off the trail when the snitch fluttered behind the Slytherin stands, and the crowd of jeering students blocked his vision.

"Shouldn't you be concentrating on staying on your broom, Potter?" Draco teased. Harry shook his head, not letting the words get to him. He could get the snitch; he just needed to find it, first.

The fear of Snape making a move dissipated steadily throughout the match. He seemed to be, surprisingly enough, a fair judge, though he was slightly biased against the Gryffindor team. Nobody was surprised that Snape was determined not to let the lions win, though Ron was certain that Snape was still just waiting for the perfect time to execute some evil plan to kill Harry.

'Got it!' Harry thought, seeing the snitch again. It was hovering around Snape, presenting Harry with the perfect chance to sweep over to it.

When Harry dashed past Snape to catch the snitch and win the game, Ash managed to yell so much in excitement that he gave himself a sore throat.

* * *

Everyone went down to congratulate Harry on his awesome win, but found themselves waiting for quite some time for the boy to actually turn up. When he did, he wasn't at all in a celebrating mood.

"What's up with you?" Ron was more irritated than annoyed that Harry didn't want to party.

"Snape." What else? Harry explained how he'd seen Snape in the woods, talking to Professor Quirrel. "It looks like Quirrel knows that Snape wants the stone; Snape's controlling him to get it."

So, the only thing stopping Snape from getting to the philosopher's stone was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's resilience.

In other words, the stone would be gone in a week.

* * *

**I'll be getting the next chapter to you soon, possibly within the week (Thursday again?). Bless these holidays and the writing time they provide.**


	8. Book 1: 8

**A/n: Another Thursday update! Bit shorter than I'd hoped, but still. (Back to just Mondays after this though; back to school!)**

* * *

The amount of homework increased exponentially over the next few weeks, with the first year exams but a few months away. Hermione was stressing about them on everyone else's behalf, always trying to make people revise for them. She reminded Ron, who was refusing steadfastly to revise, that failing the exam would lose him his place at Hogwarts, doing so at least twice daily.

Harry, Hermione and Ron had a run in with Hagrid in the library, and they went over to his hut to get more information.

They returned to the common room a few hours later with some new information: the stone was being protected by more than just Fluffy. This was a slight reassurance, though not much of one.

It was in Herbology that Harry thought to give the other news, about Hagrid's pet dragon.

"A dragon?" Iris whispered excitedly, "Can I see?"

"Owning a dragon is illegal!" Hermione whispered urgently, "Don't be so loud about it!"

"So? Doesn't mean I'm not interested." Iris argued.

"Let her come," Ron said, "She might as well. S'not gonna change anything, is it?

* * *

Six students stood outside of Hagrid's hut that evening, all excited to see the dragon. The dragon wasn't hatched yet when they came in, so they all witnessed the miracle of birth first hand. The pokemon trainers and pokemon present were slightly surprised to find that the egg didn't disappear in a flash like it did with pokemon. Axew seemed particularly excited to witness the birth of a fellow dragon, rushing over to wave at it.

Ron looked at the dragon curiously. He stuck a hand out to pet it, withdrawing it with a sharp hiss of pain as it bit him. Hagrid laughed at that, commenting on its feistiness and declaring it to be male.

After deciding to name the dragon Norbert (the name suited; it was a norwegian ridgeback) the issue of what to do with him was raised.

"Charlie could help," Ron suggested, "He's good with dragons."

"Charlie? Who's that?" Ash asked, tempted to reach out to the dragon just as Ron had. Pikachu swatted his hand back, keeping him from being bitten.

"My brother. Lives in Romania, working with dragons. I'll send him an owl; he'll know what to do!" Ron said the words with such assurance that the others didn't argue.

Iris continued her cooing over the newly hatched dragon and managed to pet it without repercussions. Ron scoffed when she did, blaming it on her self-proclaimed 'dragon master' title.

The night was going well until Harry saw Draco's face in the window, forcing the six students to make a swift exit.

* * *

The next problem was getting the dragon to the tower, where it was supposed to be when Charlie's friends to arrived pick it up. Everyone had readily agreed to help, and were putting their plan into action. Cilan had to stay in his common room, unable to help as he could potentially just mess up the timing due to not knowing exactly when the others were leaving the tower.

Ron was also unable to help, stuck in the Hospital Wing after falling ill from Norbert's bite.

This left Ash, Harry, Iris and Hermione left to carry it all out. Collectively they wouldn't fit under the invisibility cloak, so they decided to risk going without it.

This worked for a while, as they managed to get up the tower to see Norbert off without a hitch. Charlie was there to collect Norbert, along with a small team of people.

"Tell Hagrid he shouldn't be getting any more eggs," Charlie warned, though he said it kindly, "Unless they're from chickens!"

"Okay!" Ash said, smiling at the joke, "See ya!"

The four Gryffindors waved the group off for a while before starting on their way back down the tower.

"Come on!" Ash whispered, trying to look down the next corridor before they all ran down it, "I think the coast's clear!"

"Uhh..." Iris, looking behind them rather than in front, said, "I think it's a bit late for that..."

The four turned round slowly to see what Iris was pointing at.

"My my, we _are _in trouble," Filch said, smiling. He grabbed each of the students and grabbed then, forcing them to follow him.

The caretaker took great joy in leading the four off, muttering about how much trouble they were going to be in. 'Where's he taking us?' Harry wondered, suddenly realising the possible repercussions of their actions. What if they were expelled? Would he be sent back to the Dursleys, forced to live with them and never practise magic again?

And where _were _they going? Which professor was Filch leading them to? Harry hoped it wasn't Snape. The four were marched into a room, where a professor already stood, addressing two other students.

It wasn't Snape. In fact, it was worse.

Professor McGonagall was glaring at them as they walked in, taking their place next to a smirking Draco and, surprisingly, a cowering Neville. There was no time to ponder what Neville was doing there though, as McGonagall started to speak.

After a stern telling off, Gryffindor suffered a loss of 150 points (thirty points from each student) and Slytherin lost fifty points. Draco didn't bother to tell McGonagall that taking more points from him individually was unfair, having become uncharacteristically quiet after realising that he too would be punished.

They were also given detention a few nights from then. Ash grumbled about the unfairness of it as they walked back to the common room.

"Pi pi, pika pikachu chu!" No one but Ash could translate the pokemon's speech, but they got the gist from Ash's reply.

"I know buddy, we couldn't tell them about Norbert. But still..."

* * *

As it turned out, the punishments they received didn't end there. The official ones did, but they also got the hatred of everyone (bar Ron and Cilan) in the school in the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses. Their misdeeds had taken Gryffindor from first place to last in the house rankings, and so close to the end of the year it was practically impossible that they'd be able to climb back up the rankings. This meant that Slytherin was going to win. Again.

For the most part, the new hatred was ignorable. With the exams fast approaching, burying themselves in studying and keeping to themselves seemed the best option even for those who didn't have three quarters of the school annoyed at them.

There was only a week to go until the exams when McGonagall saw fit to hold their detention. They were informed as much at breakfast, also being told that it was to be held after lessons, in the forbidden forest, no less.

Iris decided to leave Axew with Cilan for the night, not wanting to scare the young pokemon or keep it up too late. Ash didn't even consider asking if Pikachu wanted to stay. The pokemon had seemed ecstatic at the thought of venturing into the unknown earlier.

* * *

That night, the four Gryffindors and Draco were led by a gleeful Filch to the edge of the forest, where he left them under Hagrid's care.

There was silence from the group for a while, the sound of a retreating Filch's contented mutterings filling the otherwise silent night.

"Righ'." Hagrid looked over the small group, "It's best we split up, for what we're doin'. So... err... Harry, Ash, Hermione, you come with me."

"What about us?" Draco demanded, looking between Iris and Neville with an expression somewhere unsettled between disgust and terror. He looked towards fang, currently cowering by Hagrid's feet. "Fine. But we get the dog." He bargained.

"Take 'im," Hagrid laughed, "He's a bloody coward."

Draco sneered at the dog, beckoning for him to follow into the forest. The group headed as one into the forest, stumbling across the gnarled roots of the trees that blocked the sky, creating thin trickles of moonlight as the inadequate lighting to guide them. Hagrid's lantern was of little use too; the warm glow it emanated was too weak to stretch out further than a metre.

"Righ'," Hagrid repeated, halting to look back at the students. By now they were all shivering slightly, the chill of the night and fear of the unknown getting to them. "We'll split up now."

"Split up to do what?" Draco, however scathing, had a point: they had no idea what their task _was_, let alone how to go about it.

"Well, there's something in the forest," Hagrid explained. Draco looked about ready to launch back into a sarcastic comment, so he continued, "It's killing the unicorns. Dumbledore want's it found."

"Pika chu, chu pika chaa..." Though no other human understood, Ash nodded along at the comment.

'It is odd that he'd send students in to do this,' Ash realised, 'Especially if he could've just got some adults to do it instead.'

They split up then, with Harry's group running into a few centaur before the signal for danger came from deeper in the forest. Ash, Harry and Hermione stood around in tense silence for a few minutes before Hagrid came back with the other group.

"Played a trick on Neville." The half giant explained, pointing at Draco. He swapped Draco for Hermione after that, and went with Neville to stop him getting so scared.

This left Harry, Ash and Draco to explore the forbidden forest, with only a dog for company.

They came across a trail of blood soon after splitting up for the second time and decided to follow it. The trail split off and branched out into thinner paths, though they followed the thickest, leading them deeper and deeper into the forest.

Finally the trail stopped. Harry looked up to see where it had taken them and was shocked to see a dead unicorn. Draco began backing away at the sight, but Ash approached it, frowning.

With his newfound aura senses, he could tell that the unicorn was not long dead. 'Whatever killed this is still out there...' He realised grimly. Pikachu took this moment to jump out from where he'd been hiding in Ash's robes and started looking round, staying close to the ground and sparking occasionally.

The electric mouse let out a "Pika" of warning seconds before a hooded creature swept out from behind a nearby tree, moving to the unicorn's side and drinking its blood.

Ash froze at the sight, feeling a strange, not quite dead yet not quite alive aura from the figure. The feeling made him feel slightly sick, and he felt it reaching out to leech on the aura of everything around it. The strangest thing was, he recognised the alive part of the aura from somewhere.

Harry too froze, feeling a sharp pain in his forehead from his scar. He had no idea what was happening, only that the sudden searing from his scar was being caused, somehow, by the hooded figure.

Draco was the only human still capable of movement, and he used that ability to leg it, abandoning the others to save himself.

The creature drank for minutes that seemed like hours, only stopping when it heard the sound of hooves beating down on the forest floor. A centaur burst into view, scaring the figure off for good before turning to help the two boys, who had collapsed to the ground when the creature left.

The centaur helped the two up, introducing himself as Firenze. He walked them back through the forest, explaining the way a unicorn's blood could save you from even the most certain death, but would curse you the moment it touched your lips. Harry wondered who would choose to do such a thing.

Ash shared a look with the pokemon riding on Firenze's back, realising that he could think of some people who would.

The two managed to find their way to the forest's edge with the centaur's help, and thanked him before he disappeared into the forest. They saw the others stood by Hagrid's hut and went over to them, describing what they'd witnessed.

After that, everyone traipsed back up to the tower and back to bed.

When Ash got to his bed he collapsed right into it, completely drained. He was literally drained of aura, after the encounter with the undead creature. Ash fell asleep quickly after, drifting off with Pikachu in his arms.

* * *

**Reaching the end of year one now. Should be done in about three more chapters.**

**Review and point out mistakes/ improvements that could be made please.**


	9. Book 1: 9

**A/n: Back again to regular scheduling! And the beginning of the real action. Book two's approaching pretty quickly as well (two or three chapters!), which should be fun...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The next thing to worry about was the exams.

Having never had to take a proper exam before, Ash found them difficult, but interesting. Some were easier than others; Ash found those where practical knowledge and wand skills were key quite simple. He managed to impress McGonagall in Transfiguration, as she decided that the blue tint he'd added (quite accidentally, in a successful attempt to make the spell work better using aura) made the snuff-box, once a mouse, look much prettier.

The Charms exam became a source of great amusement for the rest of the class. The exam was to make a pineapple dance across the teacher's desk to the best of their ability, and each student got called up one by one to have their turn. When Ash went up to cast his spell, Pikachu joined in, performing a ballroom-style dance with the fruit as a partner. Ash hoped he didn't get any points deducted for it.

Potions was harder, but not impossible. In a stroke of good luck, Iris managed to correctly predict the potion Snape was to make them brew from memory. It was a forgetfulness potion, which Iris had taken one look at in the textbook and decided that if Snape chose any other potion, he was missing out on such an amazing opportunity that it wouldn't be worth being taught by him anymore. That, and her 'sixth sense' was telling her it'd be that one.

History of Magic had been terrible; spending a whole hour of sitting around writing was not Ash's forte. Luckily he ran out of questions he knew the answer to pretty quickly and spent the rest of the time practising with his aura. He had recently discovered that it could be used to sense emotions, and he was able to pick up a lot of nervousness and exasperation from the many students who, like him, hadn't listened to a thing the ghost professor had said all year. Hermione felt smug satisfaction, probably pleased that the effort she'd put into staying awake in class was finally paying off.

In Herbology, where the majority of the exam consisted of pictures of plants, the objective of the questions being for the plants to be identified, Iris excelled. Though a lot of plants in the wizarding world were different to the ones she was used to seeing while in the pokemon universe, they were similar enough that she could remember the differences easily enough. Cilan also, with his vast knowledge of herbs for ingredients, managed to scrape by with little effort.

Hermione's insistence that they revise had helped a lot in the other exams. She received thanks in the end, by all but Ron - who had refused to revise and thus had nothing to be thankful of - for her assistance. She took the compliments well, telling the others that their own diligence and effort had also helped them, and her.

* * *

"Pika pikachu!" Ash was walking out of the last exam as Pikachu celebrated atop his head.

"You weren't doing anything," Ash laughed, "There's nothing to be free from!" He shook his head at his pokemon's antics. "Come on, we need to get to the lake!"

The two rushed over there, leaving the others behind in their rush to arrive first. "Come on out, guys!" Ash shouted, releasing his pokemon in a burst of light. "Time to eat!"

Several flashes behind Ash accompanied the familiar cries of Iris and Cilan's pokemon, all being released to join in the fun. Cilan produced a rug from his bag and set out bowls of pokemon food around the edge. The three sat on the mat an enjoyed the view of the lake, its calm ripples reflecting the mid-afternoon sunlight.

"Wait for us!" Ron called out, waving wildly as he rushed to join the trio. Hermione and Harry lagged behind, panting slightly. "Blimey, you guys are fast." He panted, bending over slightly as he stopped running.

"We're used to it," Cilan said light-heartedly, smiling slightly, "Chasing after wild pokemon, our own pokemon, running for our lives..."

"A very active lifestyle," Hermione noted, less out of breath for choosing a more steady pace. "So, you've all had a lot of practise."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed, nodding so much he shook Pikachu around on his head, "Sitting around all day is boring. I can't wait 'till we get to go back to camping."

The conversation faded out as Cilan produced snacks for the humans, creating an impromptu party of sorts to celebrate the end of the exams. Harry eventually reached the party, accepting the offered drink and sitting on the edge of the mat to stare off into the distance.

The others decided to ignore Harry's bad mood, writing it off as worry over how the last exam had gone. When he didn't come to join in after half an hour, they collectively decided that they needed to take action.

"What's with you?" Ash finally asked, able to sense the concern Harry felt without much effort.

"I think something's about to happen." Harry explained his bad mood, "Something bad."

Ash nodded in understanding. He couldn't feel anything off as such at the moment, but the feeling that something was wrong had been quietly present all year. If Harry was just noticing it now, it could mean it was all about to come to a head.

"I know how you feel." Hermione admitted, "I just can't help but think that we're forgetting something..."

Harry nodded, then suddenly sprang up. "We need to go to Hagrid's!" He announced, rushing off and leaving the others to hurriedly pack up and follow.

* * *

"Don't you think it's weird, that someone would just conveniently have a dragon egg to give to Hagrid?" Harry's words gained confused words from half of the group, and he quickly explained what Hagrid had told them the first time they'd seen the egg.

They arrived at Hagrid's hut, not bothering to knock.

"Hey," Hagrid greeted, slightly confused why the children were all so enthusiastic to see him all of a sudden.

"When that man gave you the egg, what did he look like?" There was no time for pleasantries, as Harry burst straight into the question.

"Well, I didn't get a look at his face. Wearing a cloak, see?" Hagrid explained, still not knowing what the visit was about.

The children shared a look, disappointed at the news.

"What did you talk about?" Hermione asked the question this time.

"Well, just about other things I'd looked after. He wanted to know his egg was going to a good home." Hagrid smiled, "So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon won't be a problem."

"Was he interested in Fluffy at all?" Cilan asked urgently.

"Well, who wouldn't be? Great big three-headed dog, he is! Well, I told him, I said 'he might look scary, but play him some music and he'll fall right asleep'!"

Hagrid stopped, realising with horror what he'd done. "I should _not_ have said that." He said to himself as the students rushed off.

* * *

"And where might you be going?" Just their luck, the six had managed to find themselves bumping into Professor McGonagall on their mad dash to find Dumbledore.

"We have to see Dumbledore!" Harry explained, not breaking stride as he tried to get around the professor. She blocked their path, arms crossed.

"You shouldn't be inside. Go back out, or go to your common rooms." She ordered calmly.

"We need to talk to Dumbledore though!" Ash insisted, looking around the teacher as though the man they were searching for would pop out at any moment.

"Well I'm sure what you have to say is important," McGonagall said, sounding quite affronted by the student's persisting. "But Dumbledore is away. There isn't any way for you to see him."

"But we _have_ to see him! Otherwise the Philosopher's Stone will be stolen!" The urgent exclamation from Ron shocked the professor.

"Well, I don't know how you found out about that, but I can assure you: the stone is very well protected!" McGonagall raised her voice slightly now, partly from alarm but mostly in indignation at the students so blatantly defying her authority. "Now, shoo! Back to your common rooms!"

"What are we going to do about it then?" Ron asked as they walked off.

"We fight back!" Ash said, punching the air at the thought of action. Pikachu showed his agreement, posing victoriously atop his trainer's head.

"That's nice to say, Ash. But how are we going to do that?" Hermione brought realism into the situation before anyone could get too carried away.

"I have no idea!" Ash shouted, still sounding victorious, "But we have to try! Besides, we haven't done anything exciting all _year_!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at him in disbelief.

"What... what do you consider exciting?" Hermione sounded as though she almost didn't want the answer.

Ash looked at them as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "A proper adventure! You know, when you run into a legendary pokemon that needs help, or a bad guy that's trying to capture a legendary for their own gain, or a fight between two legendaries that you have to break up before they destroy the world..."

As Ash ran through the possibilities, the three not used to such occurrences gaped at him.

"This stuff really happens in your world?" Ron questioned incredulously, earning nods from Cilan and Iris.

"Well..." Cilan elaborated, "I suppose it _is_ quite rare. Many people never see a legendary pokemon in their entire lives, but Ash has somehow managed to see and interact with every single one from each region he's been to. I don't know how he manages it, but it always turns into quite the adventure!"

Iris nodded. "I remember the first time I saw a legendary with Ash. We were in this town, and Victini - the victory pokemon - lived there, according to legend. Of course, we managed to find it... Ash even connected with it somehow, and we had to save it from the guy with the flying castle..." She trailed off.

"I remember Ash talking about that at the beginning of the year!" Ron picked the story up. "Ash said that he ended up trapped way up high! So high he, like, fainted from the cold and lack of oxygen!"

Hermione seemed quite disturbed by the tale, but calmed once Cilan explained that no lasting harm came to anyone in their adventures.

"Wow... with you lot by our side, this stone is as good as saved!" Ron cheered, joining Ash and Pikachu in their victory dance.

* * *

That night, they put the plan into action.

Cilan, determined not to get left out of the action this time, stayed in the Gryffindor common room for longer than usual.

The students who stayed out of bed later to finish homework eventually filed out, leaving the common room empty. A shiver ran through the group despite the heat from the fire flickering away next to them.

The opportune time to sneak out would be arriving soon; the plan was to leave a few hours after curfew, using Harry's invisibility cloak to hide them. It was by no means easy, fitting all six of them under, but if they stuck to the walls and covered only one side of themselves with the cloak, it was manageable.

"This is a bit exciting, isn't it?" Hermione whispered suddenly, eyeing the door with restless caution. "Breaking the rules, saving the stone..."

"We've corrupted her!" Ron joked, staring at Hermione in mock horror. Hermione glared back, but her eyes lacked venom.

"It's nearly midnight..." Cilan noted, looking at the clock on the far wall. "We should really get going now."

The others nodded, standing up out of their seats.

Suddenly Neville came into view, blocking the portrait with his outspread arms.

"Where are you going?" Neville asked. He was clearly scared just to stand up to his friends, but carried on anyway. "I won't let you lose Gryffindor any more points!"

"Stand aside, Neville," Harry commanded, "we need to go. It's important."

"Not as important as not getting in trouble!" Neville, not understanding the true intentions of the group, protested, "You might be expelled!"

"Come on!" Ash moaned, "Why can't you just let us pass?"

"I'm not backing down." Neville said, voice wavering. "I'm - I'm not a doormat!"

Hermione sighed, knowing that there would be no convincing the boy to step aside. She raised her wand to him, hesitating for a second and biting her lip.

"Neville, I'm sorry." The young witch apologised in advance, before hitting him with a petrificus totalus.

Neville fell to the ground, completely unable to move, and the six moved onwards over the still boy.

* * *

**Poor Neville! Well, at least he's acting more confidently now...**

**Quick question: the next chapter, at the moment, contains the entirety of the events down the trapdoor, but it's going to end up being something like 5000 words. Would it be better to put that all in one chapter at once, or split it up?**


	10. Book 1: 10

**A/n: So I decided to keep it as one chapter. That means there's only one chapter left until we reach book two! (Sorry for slightly late update - I started watching Spiderman and kinda lost track of time...)**

* * *

The rest of the way to the trapdoor was tense, but no real dangers were presented. Nobody walked the corridors so late at night, and even if they did, Harry had ample experience in midnight wandering to evade capture. The invisibility cloak did its job in helping to hide them too, though the few moments where it slipped were less than ideal.

Finally, the six reached the trapdoor. There was already a harp in place, charmed to play music.

"Snape's already here..." Harry realised grimly, walking over and opening the trapdoor.

There was no light down there, and no way to see where the bottom was. The harp's song slowed as it reached the end of the piece.

"This music won't be playing forever..." Ash said, turning his cap around with a determined look on his face. He picked Pikachu off his shoulder and jumped down while holding him.

The rest soon followed, each slipping through the door. Everyone landed safely, their fall cushioned by what was revealed to be a plant after Cilan cast a quick lumos.

"Wow, lucky this thing was here!" said Ron, looking at the plant gratefully. Hermione didn't seem so sure about that, looking intently at the green surrounding her. Suddenly she gasped, realising what exactly they'd all landed in.

"It's Devil's Snare!" she warned them. "This plant could kill you if you're not careful!"

Immediately the group began to panic, trying to get the plant off them. This only seemed to make it worse, as its leaves started to move, constricting them all. Pikachu jumped out of Ash's arms at his trainer's command, bouncing up to the relative safety of his cap.

Hermione was the only one that didn't react. She stayed perfectly still and sunk quickly through the plant. Harry and Ron called out to her as she disappeared, but relaxed once they saw her land unsteadily below them.

"You need to relax!" she advised, managing to stay upright and looking up to watch as they all struggled fruitlessly. She wracked her brain for a way to get them out.

"Easy for you to say!" snapped Ron, who was, if anything, fighting the restrictive tendrils with even more vigour now that Hermione had managed to escape.

"It hates sunlight! We need fire!" she realised. "How am I going to get fire - I haven't got any matches!" She started to panic, unable to think of a way to make fire down there.

"You want fire, you got fire!" Ash shouted, releasing Charizard, who promptly used flamethower on the plant. It set alight, burning away. The tendrils that once gripped them retreated, dropping the group to the floor.

"Great, genius. Now it's on fire!" Iris complained, looking as the burning leaves started to collapse in on themselves, "It'll land on us at this rate!"

Ash sighed, returning Charizard and calling out Oshawott. The pokemon dutifully put out the fire as soon as he noticed it, bowing as he finished putting out the last of the flames.

"Thanks, Oshawott. Return." Ash retracted the pokemon in a beam of red light and the group carried on moving forwards.

* * *

The next room they came across was much more spacious than the first. It was much lighter, illuminated by a glow that started so high up in the ceiling that its source wasn't visible. A few winged objects floated lazily around the arches above them, feathers fluttering every so often to keep them aloft.

"Hey, there's the door!" Ash noticed, bounding over to the exit excitedly. He grabbed the handle and was surprised to find that it was locked. He tried again, yielding the same results. Pikachu looked about ready to try an iron tail on the door to get it to open, but Ash managed to hold him back.

"Well now how are we going to get in?" Ron asked; after a fruitless search he was unable to see any keys. Hermione took that moment to step up to the door.

"Alohamora!" she said, using the unlocking spell she'd used to get them into the room with the trapdoor. She tugged on the handle, shocked when it didn't budge. She tried the spell a few more times, and like Ash she failed to open the door.

"Hey, guys!" Iris called. Her and Cilan were looking at the strange birds on the ceiling.

"They're not birds." Cilan realised, "They're keys!"

And sure enough, Cilan's words were true. It was still hard to tell, but the fluttering objects that been assumed as birds were in fact metal, glinting in the light just enough that their basic shape was warped.

"I think I know how we get it." Harry's words grabbed everyone else's attention and they rushed over towhere he stood, looking at a broom. It was hovering above the floor at waist height, obviously meant to be ridden. Now that all the pieces were put together, the way to get through the room was simple.

Too simple.

Naturally, the task couldn't be as easy as first thought; the correct key still had to be located, for starters. With the sea of hovering metal they had to work with, testing out random keys until they located the correct one could take ages, far too long for them to be able to successfully stop Snape.

"Hey, look!" Ash pointed upwards at the key Cilan had noticed earlier. "It must be that one!"

"Oh, yeah," Ron said, looking upwards. "It has a bent wing. Snape must've grabbed it when he came through!"

The correct key pinpointed, the only thing to do was fly up and grab it.

"Harry should do it," Cilan advised, "He's the seeker, after all."

Harry nodded, grasping the broom and sitting on it.

That was when the second problem kicked in.

The moment Harry touched the broom, the keys sprung into action. They swooped down upon the unsuspecting students, battering them with an onslaught of wings fluttering in their faces. Pikachu let off a small electric attack, forcing some of the keys to stop momentarily and leaving some time for everyone to move as the keys returned, more violent than the last time.

Everyone managed to fight their way out of the fray, and Harry mounted the broom. He took off, leading the keys with him as he flew around in the large space.

It took a few minutes of dodging errant keys and constantly turning so as to not let them catch him before Harry even got comfortable enough in the air to _start_ looking for the broken key.

Luckily, the key was, once discovered, easily captured, as its handicap slowed it considerably. Harry got a firm grip on the struggling object before he descended, handing the key to Iris. She unlocked the door and everyone escaped, Harry getting through last and slamming the door behind him just before the keys pierced the wood.

The group took a few seconds to catch their breath after that escapade, sitting down for a minute before continuing.

* * *

The next room was mostly taken up by a slightly raised platform, decorated with a checked pattern painted on the floor. Various chess pieces were arranged on what was essentially a human sized game of chess. The black side was missing several pieces, and a quick count revealed that there were six spaces on the board.

It didn't come as so much of a surprise, then, when their path was blocked by the white pieces. Understanding instantly that this meant they were to play a game with themselves as the missing piece, Ron assigned one of the vacant positions to each person.

Harry became a bishop, Hermione a castle. Ash gave himself a spot as king and had Pikachu mock a crown shape on his head, while Cilan and Iris each took the place of a pawn. Ron took the empty space as a knight, and the game began.

The game was messy and barbaric as a normal game of wizard's chess. Pieces were smashed up when captured, rather than simply moved aside, and it led to a few cuts as people were hit by debris of varying sizes. There was nothing to be done though; while Ron - controlling the game due to his superiority over everyone else when it came to playing - was good, he wasn't good enough to make sure that nobody was caught in the way of the flying bits of chess pieces.

The game was relatively short, as Ron's skill meant that the white side was quickly running out of pieces. Soon it was reaching the point where the only thing left to do was get into the position for checkmate. Naturally this meant that the white side was getting close too; some of the pieces had been sacrificed in the effort to get so far into the game.

Ron, calculating the next move to work out how to win, suddenly realised that the black side was only two moves away from a checkmate. Only, there was a slight problem: he would have to sacrifice himself to manage it.

Perhaps more than a _slight _problem, then.

"There's a chance to get checkmate," Ron told the others, still slightly shocked that he was even _considering _doing what he was about to do.

"Great" Iris jumped in celebration, squeaking when she nearly hit one of the nearby pieces. She had to make sure to land in her box, controlling her joy. "What do we do?"

"I'm going to move forwards now." Ron said determinedly. "The queen will take -"

"No!" Hermione shouted; she had just realised what that meant. The others were quick to join in with their understanding, also protesting loudly.

"The queen will take me," Ron repeated, more forcefully this time. "That leaves Harry free to take the king."

"But, Ron! You've seen what they do to the pieces that -"

"Don't remind me..." Ron grimaced. "Look, you guys need to get on as quickly as possible. Someone needs to stop Snape."

"Fine." said Harry finally. "Ron's right, Hermione. We need to get going as soon as we can."

Hermione shook her head sadly, but didn't offer any further comment. Ron nodded again to steel his nerves, then called the move.

The horse he sat on slid into position. As Ron had said, he queen took the bait. She slid over from her position in defence of the king and prepared to strike.

The chess piece took a swing at the horse, smashing it to pieces as her sword embedded itself in the easily broken porcelain figure. Ron flew back, momentum carrying him over the middle of the board into a skidding stop. He lay, unconscious, on the floor.

Nobody moved.

"Go on," Cilan prompted, waving his hands at Harry. The boy jolted back into action, walking over to the king, but making sure to keep an eye on Ron as he did.

"Checkmate."

The king was still for a moment. Everyone stayed perfectly still, not wanting to ruin Ron's sacrifice. Finally, after seconds that spanned hours, the white king let go of his sword.

It hadn't even made its clanging contact with the floor before everyone rushed over to Ron.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted, shaking her friend in panic. The boy didn't stir, and Cilan placed a hand on the girl's shoulder to calm her.

"I'll stay with him. You lot go ahead while I get him to the Hospital Wing, okay?" Hermione nodded at Cilan's words, sniffing slightly as she stood up and joined the others in walking forwards.

* * *

After parting with Cilan, the group soldiered on. They walked a little more hurriedly now, spurred on by Ron's sacrifice.

"I hope Snape hasn't already got the stone," said Harry, who was starting to panic a bit now.

"Don't worry," Hermione, who looked anything but relaxed, instructed, "if he had the stone, we'd have seen him on his way back up by now."

"Assuming that this path leads to a dead-end..." Ash muttered. "Whoa!" he called, seeing a large lump up ahead. From what he could tell it was some sort of creature: alive but unconscious. "A troll?"

"Doesn't look like it's been out for long..." Iris observed, peering at the troll's ugly face. Axew peeped out from the cover of Iris's hair at the announcement, surprising Hermione slightly with his presence. Iris made her way back to the group and they walked round the troll with caution, taking great care to not accidentally rouse the beast.

The group surpassed that 'challenge' with ease. It wasn't much later that they arrived at the next obstacle.

A wall of flames. A literal wall of fire that popped up in front of them as unexpectedly as the second wall that trapped them in.

This appeared to have been set up by Snape himself, as the glow of the fire revealed a row of potions in bottles of different shapes and sizes.

Hermione approached the table holding the row of potions and saw a piece of paper on it. She read its contents aloud to the others:

"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,  
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,  
One among us seven will let you move ahead,  
Another will transport the drinker back instead,  
Two among our number hold only nettle-wine,  
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line  
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore  
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:  
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide  
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side  
Second, different are those who stand at either end  
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;  
Third as you see clearly, all are different size  
Neither dwarf nor giant hold death in their insides;  
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right  
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

Her and Iris immediately went about solving the riddle, while Ash and Harry stared at the two walls of fire. Neither were particularly good with this type of logic, and decided to stay away rather than hindering the girls by trying to help.

After a few minutes of deliberation, the two girls had solved it.

"I think..." Hermione didn't sound completely confident, but a reassuring look from Iris helped her continue, "This is the potion that makes you move back." She gestured to a bottle on the end of the row, which contained quite a bit of liquid.

"This is the one to move you forwards!" Iris announced, picking up a bottle from the middle. It was tiny, with only enough liquid for one, two if they were lucky, to drink.

"So..." Ash looked at the bottles. "Two of us have to turn back here..."

At the statement, everyone stared at each other. No one particularly wanted to go back, but the prospect of going forwards was a scary one.

"I... I'll go back." Hermione volunteered. "You won't need logic and cleverness to beat Snape. Besides, I'm... not too good under pressure."

Ash wanted to tell Hermione that she should have more faith in herself but stayed quiet. He could tell that she was scared even without using his aura, and _someone_ had to go back, anyway.

Iris looked between Harry and Ash for a moment, then thrust the potion she was holding into Ash's hands. "I'll go with her." she told them. "I know you two need to be in there, I can tell with my sixth sense!"

Ash laughed slightly at the mention of Iris's 'ability', sensing with her aura that she too was scared, though her more about her pokemon's safety than her own. He nodded and turned to Harry expectantly. The boy looked about ready to protest, but sighed and accepted the arrangement.

"See you later!" Iris said brightly, taking a swig of the backwards potion and encouraging Axew to swallow some too. She handed it to Hermione, who did the same, then the two walked through the wall of flame hand in hand.

Harry and Ash were left behind, and now had to share their potion between them. Harry drank half and gave it to Ash, who took a few drops and then left the rest for Pikachu. There was no going back now. The two walked forwards with determination straight into the fire.

The two stepped through into the last room. Harry went through slightly before Ash, and gasped as he viewed the contents of the room. The room came into view for Ash too, and he found himself gasping in unison with Harry when he saw the person in the middle of the room.

"Y...you?" Harry looked at the person.

* * *

Harry had expected to see Professor Snape, crouched over the stone, perhaps laughing in the way villains tended to as they gloated over their victory.

What he hadn't expected was Professor Quirrel, stood in front of the Mirror of Erised.

"Yes, me." The man had been alerted to the two boy's presence by Harry's words, and he turned to face them. The two were even more confused to hear Quirrel's voice: he spoke without any hint of a stammer now.

Quirrel smirked at the confusion on his student's faces. "Ah, I suppose you imagined that it'd be Snape, then. I don't blame you. That man's a very suspicious character. It's why I used him as a cover, actually." The words were said casually, as if he was talking about the weather rather than revealing his year long evil scheme. "And of course, nobody would suspect p-p-poor, st-st-stammering Quirrel, would they?" For a few seconds he reverted to his faked voice, then snapped back to the confident tone.

"But... Snape tried to kill me at that Quidditch match!" Harry denied, staring at Quirrel in confusion.

"It may have looked like that, but he was actually trying to _save_ you! Why do you think he wanted to referee the next match? Snape was innocent the entire time."

Harry's mouth opened involuntarily from the shock. He stood, gaping at the man, completely stumped by the revelation. Snape? On his side? It wasn't true, couldn't be true, Snape was clearly evil! All those glares, unnecessary punishments...

"Well, perhaps not_ innocent_, exactly. But on your side," Quirrel continued explaining despite everyone's confusion. Smugness surrounded his aura entirely, making it very easy to read.

"You're..." said Ash, the boy realising that he _recognised_ the aura he could feel. And it was a lot stronger than it had been the last time he'd sensed it. "You were in the forest! Where'd the other aura come from then?"

Quirrel's smug calm flipped to tense fear in a heartbeat, the man's aura spiking with panic. The professor started to back up slightly, edging away from Ash. He stopped after a few seconds, freezing in place so quickly he shook. He was even more scared now, Ash could tell, but he was acting on his previous confidence.

With a quick wave of his wand, Quirrel shot ropes at the two boys and tied each of them up. Pikachu was trapped next to Ash in the rope's bind, thrashing around against his trainer's chest in a desperate, unsuccessful bid for freedom.

"I brought the troll in too, at Halloween. I bet you blamed that on Snape too." he said, making his way over to the mirror. "Now, time to see how to get the stone out of the mirror..."

Harry thought desperately for a way to stall Quirrel, deciding to try asking about Snape. "But, why did Snape carry on confronting you, then?"

Quirrel stopped looking at the mirror to speak to Harry. "He was suspicious of me from the start, but he didn't have any real evidence. He was a massive pain, too, always stopping my schemes."

"But Snape hates me! Why would he have saved me like you said?" Harry blurted out before Quirrel could get back to the mirror.

"He hates you, sure, but would he really let you die because of it? Snape isn't _evil_. Though I suppose that depends on your definitions of good and bad. I myself have been taught the truth: that there is no good, no bad. Only power, and those too weak to seek it."

"Two types of people..." Ash murmured. "You remind me of that pirate..." Pikachu nodded, seeing an uncanny resemblance between the two people's ideals. He growled slightly when he remembered what the pirate had tried to do, and his escape efforts increased.

Quirrel turned back to Ash when he heard him talking. "I bet you'd love to know who taught me that. You asked me before where the other part was? Well, now you can meet him!"

A voice from behind Quirrel shouted out then. "No! Not yet..." Both Ash and Harry started looking around to find the source, "put the Potter boy in front of the mirror. Maybe _he_ can get the stone..."

Quirrel flinched at the voice, but did as commanded willingly. Forcefully grabbing Harry and dragging him up to the mirror, Quirrel barked impatient orders at the boy. "Tell me what you see!"

Harry looked into the mirror. Strangely, the usual image of his parents wasn't present. Instead there was only his own reflection, just as tied up as he was. 'The mirror must've broken,' thought Harry, 'this situation is less than ideal - certainly not my _deepest desire_!'

Then, the reflection changed. The Harry in the mirror grinned confidently, then reached into his pocket. Harry watched on in wonder as the stone was produced. His reflection winked as he placed the stone back in his pocket, and Harry felt an unfamiliar weight drop into his pocket in time with the reflection's actions.

He was brought back to reality by Quirrel, who yanked him back and glared at him. "Well?" Quirrel snapped impatiently, "What do you see?"

"I... I see myself, winning the house cup!" Harry lied.

"He lies..." the voice was back, creepy as the last time, and with the surprising ability to see through lies with ease. Perhaps he could read minds? "Let me talk to him..."

With a quickly muttered "As you wish, my Lord", Quirrel began unwrapping his turban. Ash gasped as he felt the presence of the terrible aura, wincing as it started to leech off him again.

Harry stared in horror as a face was revealed to him. He recognised it from somewhere, but he wasn't sure where. Wherever it was from, it was _terrifying_. Harry found himself unable to speak, fear of the face paralysing him.

"Who's that?" Ash asked, but he went ignored.

"Hello, Harry." said the face. It didn't sound pleased. "So nice to see you again."

Ash looked to Harry, feeling his fear and wondering where his friend could have met this aura-sucking undead creature.

"It's your fault I'm like this..." the face continued, looking accusingly at Harry, "Having to drink unicorn blood to survive, using Quirrel as my body..."

Harry now had a mix of confusion and horror etched onto his face. 'What did I... who is this?'

The face recognised Harry's confusion and decided to take the opportunity to explain himself. "Years ago, when you were a baby, I tried to kill you."

Harry would've gasped in realisation had it not been for his inability to even open his mouth out of fear. Fear which, he noted dully, now had a reason. This was Voldemort, the wizard that had killed his parents, and tried to kill him.

"You know," Ash said, "That sounds awfully as though what happened was _your_ fault, not Harry's."

That caught Voldemort's attention. He turned to face Ash, whispering instructions to Quirrel. "And you are?" he demanded.

"Ash Ketchum." The pokemon trainer spoke bravely.

Voldemort glared at him oddly for a few more seconds, staring straight into his eyes and making Ash feel very uncomfortable. He took control of Quirrel's actions again and forced the man to turn back to Harry.

"I need that stone, boy, and I know you have it." Voldemort said, "Now give it to me!"

Harry silently shook his head. He wriggled in his bindings and loosened them enough to free himself, backing away from Quirrel.

"Get him!" Voldemort ordered.

Quirrel complied, turning back round an advancing on Harry. With Pikachu's help, Ash struggled out of his rope and got rid of it. He stood up let Pikachu hop onto his shoulder before trying to make his way over to the two.

Quirrel noticed Ash's attempts in his peripheral vision, shooting a curse at the boy which sent him and his pokemon flying, landing with a thud next to the flame wall. Ash managed to struggle back upwards, but not before Quirrel reached Harry.

The professor reached out and touched Harry, causing the boy to screech in pain and curl up slightly. He only managed to touch the child lightly, as the contact with his skin had caused Quirrel pain too; it was burning him somehow.

Ash ran back in between the two, spreading his arms out and turning to face Quirrel. Pikachu still lay by the fire, letting out a few worried repeats of his name as he struggled to get up. Voldemort berated the his servant for stopping, forcing him to continue his assault. Ash held his ground, wavering slightly as he stood, panting, in front of his friend. The drain on his aura was only getting worse now that he had been weakened, and Voldemort seemed to be aware that his presence was affecting the boy.

Quirrel pushed Ash aside, preparing a curse to fire at Harry. Noticing that his friend was still recovering from the pain in his head, Ash shoved him out of the way of the incoming curse. A green light flashed out and struck Ash's back as he tried to get himself out of the way, and he collapsed instantly, crumpling on the floor before the spell's light faded. Pikachu arrived at his trainer's side seconds too late, letting out an anguished "Pikapi!" as he tried to shock his friend back to wakefulness.

Quirrel turned his attentions back to Harry now, readying the same attack again. Harry was quicker to react this time, fuelled by fear and anger at Ash being hurt. He grabbed Quirrel's face, wincing as the pain in his forehead came back. He grunted in satisfaction as he noticed the effect it was having on Quirrel, seeing the man flinch away from his strong grasp.

Harry could hear Voldemort shouting something, could see the electricity from yet another attack on his friend, but he didn't pay attention to it. He just held on to Quirrel, not stopping burning his face as his consciousness faded away and the world slipped from around him, being replaced by a sea of darkness.

* * *

***Cue dramatic music***

**Though it ain't so much of a cliffhanger if you've already read the books... which I assume most will have...**

**Anyhow, see y'all next week!**


	11. Book 1: 11

**A/n: So this is the last chapter of book one. But fear not: book two chapter one is due to be posted next Monday as usual!**

**Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favourites; they're the best motivation!**

* * *

Harry pushed his eyelids up, taking massive effort in the simple task. It took a few seconds of staring at the blurry colours around him to realise that he wasn't wearing his glasses and when he did he reached out instinctively to his bedside to find them.

He only managed a few seconds of groping around until a larger, wrinkled hand stopped his own, pushing it back down gently. Another hand placed his glasses into his outstretched palm, and Harry put them on.

As the world suddenly came back into focus, Harry saw the headmaster looking at him. He stared blankly at the man for a few seconds before he remembered exactly what had been happening before he fainted.

"Professor!" he exploded, sitting up and waving his hands about wildly as he continued, "He was there, trying to get the stone, and he hurt Ash, and he might be dead, and the stone -"

"The stone is fine," Dumbledore soothed, "and so is Ash."

At the words, Dumbledore looked pointedly towards the bed next to Harry. The boy followed his gaze, seeing Ash's still body half hidden by the covers.

"He hasn't woken up yet," Dumbledore explained, "but Iris and Cilan insist that he will today."

Harry nodded, trusting his friends in their ability to guess when Ash was about to wake. "What about the stone?" he asked.

"Destroyed." Dumbledore reported. At Harry's shocked expression he elaborated: "Nicolas Flamel and his wife both agreed that it was for the best, to ensure the stone doesn't get into the wrong hands again."

"But won't they..." Harry trailed off, but Dumbledore understood what he meant.

"In time, yes, they will die." the headmaster confirmed. "They have just enough elixir left to set their affairs in order, but both Flamel and his wife agree that this is for the best; they don't want to risk Voldemort getting his hands on the stone again."

Harry nodded. It made sense, though the thought that the couple had to die because of Voldemort's threat was saddening, verging on disturbing. As Harry mulled over the new information, Dumbledore swept out and made way for Madam Pomfrey to come in.

"Honestly... I told Dumbledore: no visitors. But does he listen? You need your rest!" The nurse complained, checking Harry over. She moved over to Ash, still muttering. "Your friends stopped by before too. Four of them. Four! And they all wanted to come in. So of course I stopped them, but they're probably all still out there..."

Harry perked up at this, imagining that his friends would all want to see him awake. "Can I see them?" he asked, "Just for a minute!" he amended, seeing Madam Pomfrey's expression turn sour at his request.

Madam Pomfrey reluctantly gave in to his begging and went to open the door. As she did, four children tumbled in, having lost their balance after leaning too heavily on the door. Harry smiled, laughing at his friends as they tried to untangle themselves. It took them a full minute to get up from the floor; they had all landed on top of one another.

"Hi guys!" Harry managed to contain his giggling for long enough to say the words.

"Hi Harry!" Ron was the first to respond, cheerfully making his way over to Harry's bed. He stopped at the edge to look over the array of presents that had been left there and then took one of them, a chocolate frog, opening it and eating it. Hermione glared at him for stealing Harry's treats, but Harry didn't particularly mind. He reached over to the end of the bed and grabbed one for himself, inviting the others to do the same.

"You've been out for ages!" Ron continued through a mouth full of chocolate, "Three whole days! The whole school's been worried about you. Guess that's why you got so many presents..." he trailed off as he took another bite into the frog, giving time for the others to speak.

"Do you know what happened to Ash?" asked Iris, looking concernedly over at the still unconscious boy, "I know Dumbledore thought he was dead when he first brought hm out of there, but we've checked, and he's definitely still alive..."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know exactly. When Quirrel touched me, it made my scar hurt really badly. I was still on the floor, and Quirrel was readying some sort of spell. Ash pushed me out of the way, but he got hit... he just kind of... flopped, after that. I thought he might've been dead for a minute, but..."

Everyone turned back to look at the boy, surrounded by sheets and get well soon cards. He was breathing lightly, but showed no other signs of life.

"By the way, Harry." Cilan said, turning back to his friend, "The end of year feast is tomorrow. Hopefully you'll be able to attend."

Harry nodded, still staring at Ash.

"Slytherin won though, so maybe you'll be better off staying here!" Ron joked, successfully lightening the mood as everyone laughed.

* * *

'Really?' was all Ash could think as he found himself waking from a long period of unconsciousness for the third time in a year. This time his aura vision came back almost instantly, and he could sense all of his friends crowded around a nearby bed. 'So Harry's okay...' he thought, happy that he'd managed to save him from whatever curse had been thrown out. He could also sense the comforting presence of Pikachu, tucked away under the covers and probably hiding from Madam Pomfrey.

He lay there for a while as the others talked, tying to think of the best way to announce his wakefulness to his friends. Eventually he came up with a plan, and continued lying there as he thought of the best way to go about it.

Everyone started laughing at a joke Ron told, diverting their attention from him, and Ash sprang into action. Silently, he reached for the wand that was placed at his bedside. He supposed that he could've tried an aura trick to summon it, but he was still slightly weak from Voldemort's presence. He managed to get it without alerting even Pikachu, and had to conceal a grin as he started to cast the spell.

"Wingardium leviosa." he whispered, pointing the wand towards Harry's bedside. At first, he only levitated small objects, like the cards and sweets, but when his efforts went unnoticed, subtlety went out of the window. He cast the spell on Axew as the pokemon came out to say hello to Harry and had to stifle a giggle as everyone started getting confused, accusing each other of casting the spell. Next he levitated Harry, still sat on the bed, and couldn't help but laugh as he cracked an eyelid open to look at the unsuspecting wizard's startled expression.

Suddenly everyone turned to him, having heard his laughter.

"Hi guys!" Ash said with a giggle as he dropped the spell, letting everything fall back to their respective places. For a few seconds, there was silence.

Then a resounding cry of "Ash!" came from his five friends, and the four of them not stuck in a hospital bed rushed over, laughing at his prank and, in Iris's case, berating him for acting like such a little kid.

"How long have you been awake?" Hermione asked, trying to lean on the side of the bed and accidentally disturbing Pikachu.

The pokemon jolted into awareness and instantly realised that his trainer was awake, letting out a "Pikapi!" of delight and cuddling up in his friend's lap.

"It's good to see you too buddy." As usual, Ash's pokemon came first. He hugged Pikachu for a while before acknowledging Hermione's question. "A few minutes. All your talking woke me up!"

The group laughed again, glad to have their final member present. Madam Pomfrey came in then and broke up the moment, directing all the humans out as Pikachu avoided detection by jumping back under the covers. Harry explained what the others had told him as Ash got checked over by the nurse, and then the two received the order to sleep, being told that they would only be allowed to go to the feast tomorrow if properly rested.

* * *

"Come on Harry, hurry up!" Ash jumped about impatiently as Harry prepared to leave. Madam Pomfrey had come in earlier telling them that they could go, and immediately Ash and Pikachu had jumped out of bed and started getting ready to leave. (The nurse hadn't seemed too surprised at the mouse's presence, and didn't point out that Ash wasn't supposed to have him there.)

"Ah, thought you'd still be here."

"Hagrid!" Harry looked up to the half giant, happy to see him. Hagrid made his way over to Harry's bedside and sat down, putting a massive hand in his pocket and trying to retrieve something.

Ash looked on curiously as Hagrid pulled a book out, realising that it was a photo album when it opened. Hagrid informed the two that the people in the picture were Harry's parents.

"Wow." Ash looked at the couple in the picture with awe, "So those are your parents? Cool."

Harry was slightly overwhelmed, having no memory of his parents yet still able to recognise them as such. He agreed to Ash's awe and stared at the photograph, not noticing when Hagrid got up to leave.

"It's really cool that you get that photo." Ash said, getting Harry's attention. "Makes me think of my mum... a whole universe away..." He seemed have just noticed that fact, and the boys sat on Harry's bed for a minute, both lost in thought.

Eventually Ash's stomach broke them out of their reverie, and with a laugh the two got up and went down to the Great Hall.

* * *

The Great Hall was truly a sight to behold. Banners decorated in Slytherin colours were hung via magic from the ceiling; everything except the stone walls and wooden chairs and tables had the green and silver adornments, snakes present all around the room. Despite it being a house other than their own that had won, Ash and Harry couldn't help but admire the decorations. They arrived just in time, walking through the massive doors just as Dumbledore rose to give the starting speech.

Iris waved them over from the middle of the Gryffindor table and the two hurried over, sitting down just before Dumbledore signalled for silence.

"The house points for the end of the year are as follows: Gryffindor, with 312 points," At this, the other tables gave a polite applause to Gryffindor, "Hufflepuff with 352 points," Cilan smiled as the Gryffindors congratulated his house for beating theirs, "Ravenclaw with 426 points, and Slytherin with 472 points, making them the winners."

At the official announcement, the Slytherin table burst into applause. Some claps were heard from the other houses, though it was mostly irritated mutters from the older years who'd been around to see Slytherin win year after year.

"But, I have yet to take recent events into consideration." Dumbledore's words paused the Slytherin celebration. "There are still some points to be awarded. To Ron I award 30 points, for the best game of chess Hogwarts has ever seen." Ron blushed at this, and the Gryffindor table applauded him loudly. "To Cilan, 30 points, for caring about his friend's wellbeing enough to stay out of the action himself." Cilan too found himself blushing, and his fellow Hufflepuffs clapped for him, "To Hermione and Iris, 30 points each, for the amazing use of logic." Iris and Hermione high-fived each other as the Gryffindors continued cheering, "And to Harry and Ash, 35 points each, for their unparalleled bravery."

The Gryffindors went wild, cheering for all five of their point earners. Ash bushed at the praise, scratching the back of his head with a slight laugh while Harry simply smiled. The banners changed colour from green and silver to green and red, signalling that the house cup was now being shared between the two houses with the fiercest rivalry. A few Slytherins groaned at this, but were still happy that they were, at least, still in first place.

Dumbledore raised his hand and brought silence once more. "Finally, to Neville, 10 points. For it is hard to stand up to your enemies, but even harder to stand up to your friends."

After Dumbledore dished out the last of the points, a cacophony of cheers enveloped the hall. Students from three of the four houses stood up in celebration, throwing things into the air as the banners changed completely to the Gryffindor colours. Only the Sytherin table stayed silent, quietly sulking as they experienced their first loss in years.

* * *

After the feast came the exam results, with everyone doing well enough to get into their second year. Hermione had, naturally, gained the best results in the year. Iris spent a few minutes gloating with Ash over her superior overall score until he pointed out that he had trounced her completely in charms, at which point she muttered something about favouritism showing through.

The results seemed pretty insignificant anyway, once they all considered that they had stopped Voldemort that year.

After the results it was time to pack, and soon everyone was boarding the Hogwarts Express to go to their respective homes.

"Are you sure you'll be okay at the Dursleys'?" Hermione fretted as they reached the train station. Harry reassured her that if he'd managed to survive eleven years with them, he was perfectly capable of suffering through six weeks.

Iris told Axew to stay hidden in her hair as she walked through the wall taking them back to the muggle world, and Ash looked back nervously at his backpack, checking that Pikachu was still hidden inside with a quiet promise to let him out as soon as they made it back to the Burrow.

The three pokemon trainers joined the Weasleys once everyone had said their goodbyes, all squashing into the car that Mr Weasley had driven over there.

"Wow, I can't wait until we go back!" Iris said as they drove off, getting nods from the two next to her. Despite her early inhibitions about attending, it seemed that Ash had been right in following Arceus's orders. 'I wonder when we have to start saving the world...' The purple haired girl wondered as she told Axew that it was safe to come out. 'Hopefully not too soon...'

Ash picked Pikachu back out of his backpack, ruffling the pokemon's fur as he shook himself out in relief, glad that he could be released. 'That was a fun year...' Ash thought, noticing that Iris was having similar thoughts. By now he was getting good enough at sensing the emotions of others that it was almost as if he was hearing their thoughts, and he intended on getting to the point where he could actually read thoughts within the next year.

Another thing he realised he would have to do at some point was actually _tell_ someone about his developing aura abilities, but he had a nagging feeling that telling people would be a bad idea. 'I'm sure I'll get round to it eventually.' he thought, 'Until then, let's just enjoy the holidays!'

Cilan was having much less serious thoughts than Ash, simply imagining the holidays and his plans for making food and training pokemon over the course of the six weeks.

Ron wasn't even thinking that far ahead, instead looking forwards to whatever his mother was going to prepare for them all to eat.

Hermione was thinking about her new magical abilities and how they would affect her during her six week stay in the muggle world with her parents.

Harry was hoping that what he'd told Hermione would hold true, already looking forwards to meeting up with his friends again at the end of the six weeks. 'Why do the holidays have to be so long?' he sighed, not looking forwards to arriving at Privet Drive.

* * *

**And we're done! Several weeks and lotsa words later, book one is finished. So all I have to do now is this, six times over... poosticks.**


	12. Book 2: 1

**A/n: The first chapter of book two, and the summery shenanigans begin (and pretty much end...)**

* * *

The summer holidays seemed to pass in a flash for the residents of the Weasley household. It was an especially good time for the pokemon trainers, who enjoyed the free time they now had to spend with their pokemon. Pikachu was happy he was able to spend more time with his friends, and the pokemon were glad to be out of their pokeballs more often.

Ash and the other Weasleys played Quidditch, or, an edited version of it - there were only five players, after all. Him, Ron, Fred, George and Ginny played an areal tag game where being hit by the quaffle meant you had to fly upside down for thirty seconds. It was interesting, though it was a surprise that it never ended in injury.

That was mainly down to Ash and his perfected 'broom whispering' skill (the name, courtesy of Draco last year, had stuck and become the official title). He continued his strange, almost telepathic communication with the brooms as a way of catching people if they fell.

Ginny and Iris had become more friendly over the course of the summer, and the shyer of the two had opened up more to Ash and Cilan, too. Cilan spent more time with Percy, connecting with him over the 'older brother' role they shared, and Ash, despite getting on well with everyone in general, took a shine to the twins, getting involved in more of their pranks and experiments.

It was this involvement in their schemes that led to Ash climbing into Mr Weasley's car in the middle of the night to rescue Harry. They had sent several to the boy over the weeks, but none had received a reply. At first, Iris had joked that Ash's poor spelling must've put him off responding, but even she started getting worried after two weeks of no replies.

This mission was a product of that worry; the plan was to fly (it was a _magical_ car, after all) over to Privet Drive and see if the Dursleys were treating him well. If they were, they'd leave. If they weren't, Harry was coming with them.

As it turned out, the Dursley family was most certainly_ not_ treating their adopted child well. Ash was appalled to see that his friend's window had bars across it, and understood immediately why none of his letters had been responded to. He felt a righteous anger well up at the thought of Harry's treatment, causing his aura to flare up and surround him with a light glow of blue, which he struggled to control. Thankfully, no one noticed the lapse in control, too preoccupied with getting Harry out.

The first point of order was the removal of the bars, a task completed by Ash and Ron, who were now in control of the car. Fred and George broke into the house to retrieve Harry's school stuff, before taking it up to the bedroom. This all had to be completed in silence, so the sleeping Dursleys were not woken.

It was all being pulled off without a hitch, until the bars coming off the window managed to wake Vernon. Then, all hell broke loose. The man was none too pleased at his rude awakening, and even less impressed to find that it had been courtesy of four wizards, who were currently attempting to kidnap his nephew. Not that the kidnapping attempt was entirely unwelcome, as neither he nor his family members appreciated or wanted the boy.

Vernon burst into Harry's bedroom just as the twins had finished loading the trunk into the boot of the car. Ash and Ron swung it round, and the twins jumped in. Harry was less fortunate, being grabbed by the ankles at the last moment.

"Just drive!" Ash ordered, grabbing Harry round the middle and pulling him into the car. Ron slammed on the pedal and the car sprang into action, dragging both Harry and his uncle through the window with it.

Harry, being as he was, supported by Ash, didn't fall. Vernon, however, toppled through the open window, landing heavily in the bush below. He looked up angrily at the disappearing car, but didn't speak out of fear of alerting the neighbours to the strange happenings.

Back inside the car, a much happier Harry was letting Hedwig out of the cage, and the owl was finally able to fly after weeks of being cooped up. Ash laughed as he watched Pikachu jump out of the window after the bird, landing gracefully on it and squealing with delight at the experience of flight.

Hedwig was not too happy about the new passenger, but was willing to tolerate him, if only because of the joy brought by being free again.

Harry was thoroughly impressed by the flying car. It was a drastic change from the muggle world he'd spent the last few weeks in, and a welcome one at that. He watched the layer of cloud below them, occasionally able to view the cities and towns flash by, the patches of light becoming more rare as they reached the countryside and neared the Burrow.

Eventually, the towering yet friendly structure that was the Weasley household came into view, the car lowering and coming to a halt beside it. Everyone but Fred and George disembarked, leaving the twins to park the car properly.

As the three snuck into the house, Ash warned them not to make any noise, making his way over to the staircase.

As he reached it, though, Mrs Weasley came into view. And she did not look pleased.

"Middle of the night! Car gone? No note?" the woman exploded, glaring at Ron, and the twins that had come in. "Of course, I know it isn't your fault, Harry dear," she spoke to him gently, reassuringly.

"What were you thinking?" Mrs Weasley continued to her children. She ranted at them for almost half an hour, pausing every once in a while to speak kindly to Harry, offering him breakfast and a place to sleep.

Ash felt slightly put out. He wasn't being drilled like Ron and the twins, but neither was he being treated kindly like Harry. He was just... there. Being ignored. Feeling quite useless in the situation, he wandered off upstairs to find Cilan and Iris. After all, they needed to know that the mission was a success.

"I wish I could've come too," Iris grumbled as Ash finished his tale, "Lousy car and its lack of seats..."

"Yeah, it was pretty fun and all, but Ron, Fred and George are getting yelled at now..." Ash said, trailing off to let the other two listen to Mrs Weasley shouting from below them.

"And why aren't you down there with them?" Iris asked out of genuine confusion. It wasn't like Ash to run away from punishment, and it didn't seem likely that Mrs Weasley would forget to talk to him.

"I don't know," Ash looked as confused as Iris felt, "She wasn't paying attention to me, so I figured I'd make myself useful and get you guys..."

"Well, I'm sure she has her reasons," Cilan consoled Ash, "Let's go downstairs and see, okay?"

The trio made their way downstairs, finding breakfast to be already made. Ash looked hesitantly at Mrs Weasley as she put some eggs on Harry's plate.

"Oh, Ash!" she seemed quite surprised to see him, "I forgot to speak to you before, didn't I?" the motherly figure apologised, explaining that she didn't blame him, but had been more focused on Harry at that moment, as he'd just been rescued and all.

Ash nodded in understanding, digging enthusiastically into his breakfast.

* * *

The rest if the day sped by for everyone. Mrs Weasley soon got over her irritation and the children stopped tiptoeing around her. Ginny seemed to shut herself in more once Harry arrived, blushing and running off every time he came into view.

"It's not you," Fred laughed as Ginny rushed upstairs after Harry trying to say hello, "Well, not exactly. See, Ginny has a massive crush on you!"

"Crush?" Ash asked, "On Harry..."

Iris sighed. "Yes, a crush. You know -"

"That sounds painful!" Ash announced. Fred and George stared at him for a few moments.

"Crush... painful?" Fred and George said. "Ha!"

"What?" Ash looked over at Iris, who didn't seem to be sharing in the twins' amusement. "What's so funny?"

"It doesn't matter..." Iris sighed. "You're just dense." she muttered, shaking her head as she walked away.

Ash shrugged off everyone finding strange humour in his confusion. He followed the twins outside, where a Quidditch match was forming.

"Hey!" Harry waved him over, "Wanna play?"

Ash grinned, nodding before he rushed back inside. "Quidditch!" he shouted as he entered, catching Iris and Cilan's attention. The three grabbed their brooms and ran back out. "I'm back!" Ash announced to the waiting players, "And I brought the others!"

"Great!" Fred and George said, flying over to the three. "We're playing four-a-side!"

"Four-a-side?" Cilan looked around, pointing at the people on the makeshift pitch. "I count seven. So... who's getting the disadvantage?"

"No one!" Ash cheered. He grabbed two pokeballs from his belt and tossed them. "Oshawott, Charizard: come on out!"

The two pokemon emerged from their pokeballs in a flash, Oshawott jumping straight onto Charizard's back. "They can play too!" explained Ash, "No moves though," he waned the two, "you have to play fair."

The others soon got over the shock of playing against pokemon, discovering them to be quite good players once they got into the game.

Harry joined in, acting seeker for his team. It occurred to him that he'd never played any other place on the field; he was dominating a single role while all the other team players were more versatile, though the others were doing an average job at their different roles.

Ash seemed to have noticed this too. "Hey Harry!" he called out, "Wanna try another role?"

Harry accepted the challenge slightly begrudgingly, letting Ash be the seeker while he took the beater's bat from him. Harry quickly learnt that different positions came with widely different responsibilities, nearly dropping the bat three times in the first few minutes as he kept forgetting he had it.

Eventually he got into the swing of it, managing to hit the bludger with a fair amount of accuracy. One such occurrence of Harry's accuracy was when he managed to smack the ball directly into Ash's face. It almost turned into a tragedy when Ash lost his grip and started to fall, but with a quick 'help!' the broom rushed to save him. Ash grabbed Pikachu in one hand and the broom in the other, lowering himself to the ground to rub his hurting face.

Once everyone registered that Ash was okay and hadn't in fact fallen to his doom, laughter erupted from the ones playing. They all came down to help Ash, who now had a nosebleed.

"Are you okay?" Iris asked with a slight giggle, popping up from around Iris.

"Yeah..." Ash answered, sounding strange due to his nose, which he was now pinching to stop the flow of blood. "M'fide"

"Well if you're sure you're _fide_," Fred and George spoke in unison. "We'll go back to playing Quidditch!"

With that, six of the seven human players flew back up. Charizard and Oshawott (who had become the official pokemon representatives, playing as keeper in the four-a-side games) stayed behind, both still slightly concerned about Ash.

"I'm fine guys!" Ash assured, "Now come on, can't play Quidditch with three people on each team!"

With that, trainer and pokemon took to the skies, becoming the keeper and seeker in the small game. The seeker job was more of a seeker-chaser mash, as playing with only one chaser made for a rubbish game, as they had previously discovered.

The game continued for hours, until Mrs Weasley called them in to eat. As soon as she noticed Ash's bloody nose she started fussing over him, causing him to blush slightly in embarrassment.

"I'm fine," he moaned, brushing her off as he sat down to eat.

"At least clean the blood off!" Mrs Weasley said, pushing the boy up and over to the sink. Ash complied, wiping the blood from his hands before going back to the table and digging into his food.

As they were eating, an owl swooped in through the window, dropping letters with the Hogwarts crest. They were all opened, an the owl left when it saw the children reading.

"Wow, a lot of books from this Lockhart guy..." Harry commented as he looked at the book list.

"Oh, yeah. He's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Ron informed him.

"Well, looks like we'll be taking a trip to Diagon Alley." Mrs Weasley noted, looking through the list Ginny had. She frowned at the amount of books on the list, mentally calculating how they were going to pay for it all.

* * *

**In response to RachelG61's question: not for a while, a book at least; Iris and Cilan do know, but not about the 'chosen one' thing specifically; and the Hogwarts lot has had a few conversations about it in earlier chapters but nothing really specific on the legendaries' powers - they will eventually though!**

**If you find any mistakes or have any questions, make sure to point them out / ask them!**


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